Pokémon Trix: Tales of Soot and Ash

by Ohirume

Imagine a version of the Pokémon world where Ash Ketchum came into possession of the most powerful device in the world of Ben 10. Now imagine that written by some psycho. Yeah... Pokémon/Ben 10 crossover, sort of. Weird censoring. Tell me what you think. Due to this websites regular glitches/breakdowns, chapters and status updates will be posted on DeviantArt. Username: Ohirume1

69. Mewtwo Part 3: Attack

**To switch to Reader View and (possibly) get rid of the google ads– go to the URL and replace the 'www' with an 'm'

It's less detailed, so navigation is more annoying. But that's the fault of the website for letting the ads start appearing**

Seishin: *wide eyed* … welp, that was fast.

Less than 6 hours after part 2's release and someone already gave us the answer to the code. Same guy to first give us the complete set of numbers, at that. Also, we asked if it'd be okay to do a shoutout. They agreed.

So, congratulations reylt15 on being the first to give us the answer! Sorry again that we failed to think of a prize!

*sly smirk* But just because one person gave us the answer doesn't mean we gotta stop the hunt for everyone else, just yet.

So then, here's the next catch-up hint that may just make things more confusing.

Rob had multiple options for the code and just went with what would be convenient throughout chapter 66.

By the logic of this code 42=43, 1=2=57, 5=6=10=22=23=64, and 3=18=29=47.

*salutes* Good luck! *drops out of frame*

Nuevo: *stares at numbers blankly* What the actual-

…

Ohirume: Also, just realized I forgot to put this in the previous two parts-

I don't own Pokémon or Ben 10.

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The Deal

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'And what fine clones they'll produce!' Mewtwo announced as a massive swarm of the black pokéballs appeared above them.

Most of the trainer's and their Pokémon's eyes widened fearfully at the sight. Others glared apprehensively.

Neesha's rapidash stared fearfully, "Dear Arceus."

Corey's sandslash quickly took up a defensive stance, "How the Yvel are we supposed to avoid all of that?!"

"We don't need to!" Bulbasaur blurted out while glaring at the balls. Most of the Pokémon flinched and looked at him, "You all saw what just happened! Those pokéballs aren't indestr- they're not unbreakable! We don't have to keep avoiding them if we can break them!"

'Feel free to try.' Mewtwo said as they started moving a hand forward.

Ash grimaced before shouting back, "They're not flying on their own! Mewtwo's controlling them! If you can't run, group up and watch each other's backs until we can return you! Soot, they're coated in seal polish, too!" He reached back.

Mewtwo deadpanned as their eye twitched, 'Okay, seriously! How does he keep doing that?!'

Ash brought out a pokéball and pointed it at Charizard, "Return!" Charizard vanished into the beam. Ash then grabbed Pikachu from his shoulder, held him close to his chest, and turned to run over to everyone else. He shot darting glances around as he ran.

Aerodactyl and Tauros were already flying/charging away while Soot was running while in the midst of tossing Clefairy onto her back. Squirtle had Ice Beam charged and stood next to Bulbasaur who had Vine Whip ready and a few Hidden Power floating around him. Arbok stood in front of Nincada defensively with Poison Jab jutting from his tail.

Brock was following Ash's lead and returning Onix and Zubat due to size and speed. Vulpix was stomping to prep Flame Charge and Geodude got Rock Throw at the ready.

Misty returned Basculin and Togepi while promising to apologize to the hatchling later. Seadra and Goldeen were hurrying to join up with Squirtle and Bulbasaur. Staryu threw up Light Screen for themselves and Psyduck and stood their ground. The Duck Pokémon looked around cautiously.

Gary was returning Blastoise and Nidoking. Arcanine's body became covered in green energy as they got Extreme Speed ready and Dodrio crouched into a running stance. Scizor brandished their claws and Alakazam's eyes lit up pure purple.

Corey was returning Bruteroot and Rhyhorn. Hitmonlee, Sandslash, and Scyther moved into their fighting stances. The Bug/Flying and Ground-type's claws glowed purple from Fury Cutter and took on a metallic sheen from Metal Claw, respectively. The Fighting-types feet lit up white from Brick Break. Pidgeot followed Aerodactyl's lead.

Neesha returned Shellshocker and Wigglytuff. Rapidash and Ninetales each ran off with a white glow from Quick Attack. Vileplume was running to their trainer fearfully. Dewgong was already charging Ice Beam while staring at the pokéballs in a panic.

Nurse Joy was running over to Dragonite. And Fergus … he smirked.

"Hide your-" Ash cried out before being cut off by the guy in the tank top.

Fergus immediately pointed at Mewtwo, "Gyarados, Hyper Beam! Vaporeon, Hydro Pump! Nidoqueen, Stone Edge! Golduck, Psyshock! Tentacruel, Sludge Bomb! Kingdra, Dragon Pulse! On my mark!"

Before anyone could respond, Vaporeon opened their mouth as an upright disk of water appeared in front of it, Gyarados formed the Normal-type attack again, Golduck's gem and eyes took on a distorted purple glow, and Kingdra, Tentacruel and Nidoqueen faced Mewtwo with the latter raising a fist.

Ash skidded to a halt and grimaced, "Wait!"

"Fire!" Fergus shouted.

Gyarados fired, Vaporeon's disk burst out into a large stream of water, Kingdra unleashed a bluish-green stream of energy from their mouth, Nidoqueen punched the ground as pillars of glowing blue rock burst out of the ground towards Mewtwo one-by-one, a purple beam fired out from Golduck's forehead, and Tentacruel raised their beak as a swarm of brown globs shot out.

Mewtwo just stared apathetically as all six attacks shot across the area. Their eyes blipped light blue as the attacks all slammed into them at once. A violent explosion erupted and a thick cloud of smoke hid Mewtwo and the pokéballs.

Fergus grinned cockily and everyone else stared in shock. Corey's Pokémon, Neesha's Pokémon, Tauros, and Nincada looked over in surprise. Everyone else's Pokémon watched apprehensively; including Fergus's.

Neesha stared in surprise, "Did- did it work?"

"Tauros, return!"

Everyone else perked up and looked over as Ash's Bull Pokémon vanished into the beam. The boy then turned and ran towards Aerodactyl while waving. At the same time, Pikachu was running over to Clefairy and Soot.

Brock, Misty, theirs and Ash's Pokémon, and Gary perked up in fearful realization, 'It's not over!'

Gary hurriedly snapped out of it and returned Scizor and Dodrio. Brock and Misty followed suit with Geodude and Goldeen. Corey noticed and quickly returned Scyther to be safe. Arbok took this opportunity to escort Nincada to the group of Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Seadra.

Fergus noticed and looked at them with a smirk, "Hey, take it easy. I already took care of-" He was cut off by an outburst of pained cries and crashes.

Fergus's grin melted into a look of pure shock, and he slowly turned to look back at his Pokémon. His eyes widened in shock when he found his entire team unconscious on the ground. The glowing light blue outline around them faded.

'Have you learned nothing?'

Everyone -except Ash, Soot, and Fergus- jerked and looked towards the smoke. Ash and Soot noticed, looked back, and grimaced as glowing blue eyes stared back. Fergus slowly turned to look at Mewtwo in fearful shock.

"Run for it!" Gary shouted to the Pokémon.

"Hide your pokéballs!" Ash screamed at the trainers as Aerodactyl vanished. He minimized Charizard, Tauros, and Aerodactyl's pokéballs and moved them all to his left hand before bringing out the claws on his right.

Brock, Misty, and Gary followed suit by minimizing their pokéballs and covering them with their hands; deciding not to question it. Right as they did, the entire swarm of black pokéballs shot out of the cloud and towards the Pokémon and trainers faster than most of them could react.

What followed took no longer than a second.

Ash stomped and spun on his heel to slash the black pokéballs targeting him to scraps. He finished the spin and continued running. He then moved the pokéballs to his right hand and pointed his left middle and pointer finger ahead.

Sandslash noticed and stared in shock, 'How is he doing that-' "SAND!" They failed to notice the pokéball shooting towards them until it hit them in the head.

Dewgong fired frantic Ice Beams at the pokéballs but missed every shot in their panicked state and got hit in the chest. Alakazam tried to hold one of them back with Psychic but was quickly overpowered and took the pokéball to the forehead. Vileplume was hit in the back of the head before they could make it to Neesha.

Ninetales and Rapidash shot away with Quick Attack again, Vulpix ran with Flame Charge, Arcanine blurred away, and Soot -with Clefairy and now Pikachu on her back- ran off as fast as she could. Pikachu got Signal Beam ready and Clefairy got ready to start Wake-Up Slapping. Pidgeot flew away with four pokéballs tailing them.

Hitmonlee managed to bat the pokéball targeting them away with Brick Break but wasn't able to break it. Staryu's Light Screen managed to hold back the pokéballs targeting them and Psyduck.

Arbok wildly slashed Poison Jab at the oncoming pokéballs but only succeeded in batting them away. But that did put the balls in position for Squirtle and Seadra to hit them with Ice Beam and Bulbasaur to follow up with Hidden Power. Nincada was being safeguarded in the middle of the crowd and looking around fearfully.

Joy prepared to start batting away at the pokéballs to protect Dragonite but they … ignored him? The nurse and Dragon Pokémon perked up and looked around in confusion at seeing none of the pokéballs approach them.

Neesha and Corey jumped and stared in surprise as two of the black pokéballs shooting towards them shattered in midair. The remaining three struck the pokéballs they were holding.

The pair's eyes widened in shock when the capsules themselves were absorbed. Brock, Misty, and Gary managed to avoid the same due to Ash's warning but still stared at the two trainers in shock.

Fergus just stared -frozen in place- as the pokéballs zipped past him and hit his defeated team. He fell to his knees as they all vanished. The balls flew past him and back to Mewtwo.

Ash glared in annoyance at seeing the Pokémon get caught and Mewtwo gritted their teeth in frustration at seeing some avoid the onslaught.

Neesha stared down at her bare hand in pure shock, "wh- what?"

Corey stared in shock as well, "But … that's impossible." He flinched when a familiar cry sounded out, glanced over, and tensed up as Sandslash vanished. He looked around at the rest of his team when he saw the ball Hitmonlee hit shooting back towards him.

Corey grimaced and quickly brought out a pokéball to return the Kicking Pokémon, "Hitmonlee, return!"

Hitmonlee glanced over as the beam absorbed him. Corey then minimized his and Bruteroot's pokéballs and closed his hand around them. Neesha noticed and hid Shellshocker's with both hands.

Ash finally made it to the rest of the trainers and looked around frantically "We need to gather up as many Pokémon as possible! And keep a tight grip on your pokéballs so Mewtwo can't catch them!"

Gary looked at him in surprise, "What? But they already tried-"

He was cut off when the four pokéballs in his hands, and the three in Brock's and Misty's took on a light blue outline and shot away in a fraction of a second. All three could only stare in shock when a swarm of black pokéballs shot toward theirs.

Acting fast, Ash moved the three pokéballs back to his left and swung out his right hand to slash the oncoming pokéballs. But he missed four of them.

He retracted his claws, caught the remaining six, and turned towards his friends, "Yeah, but they can still do that." Without looking, he fired the claw from his left thumb and destroyed a pokéball tailing Soot, 'Down to one hand.' He looked down at the pokéballs for a second before handing two to each of the trainers.

Misty took the pokéballs and stared at them in shock. She started trembling, "Ash-"

"It was Basculin." Ash said abruptly before looking at Brock, "As well as Geodude." Then at Gary, "And Nidoking and Dodrio."

Misty stopped trembling but still frowned worriedly. Brock glared apprehensively.

Gary stared in shock before looking at Ash, "We have to get them back!"

Ash looked at him, "And we will. But, for now, we have to keep everyone else safe."

"Pidgeot!" Corey shouted out of nowhere. Everyone else glanced over as the Bird Pokémon vanished.

Neesha stared in shock before looking around. After spotting her Fire-types, she pulled out a pokéball, held it up, and called out, "Rapidash! Ninetales! Get over here! Quick!"

The girl's Fire-types glanced over at her before turning and running straight towards her … only to get blindsided by two more pokéballs.

Neesha stared in pure shock before her arms went limp, "but…" She dropped the empty pokéball.

Ash glared at where the Fire-types were and muttered, "Crag." He looked around "Spread-"

"NIN!"

Ash jerked and he looked over. His eyes widened in shock.

.

*Seconds earlier

Arbok wildly slashed Poison Jab at the oncoming pokéballs and batted them away. Right after, Squirtle and Seadra managed to freeze them solid with Ice Beam and Bulbasaur followed up with Hidden Power.

The Grass/Poison-type smiled triumphantly at seeing his pseudo-Psychic-type attack shatter the pokéballs, "Alright! We can brittle them!" He set up a few more Hidden Power, "Keep it up!"

Arbok, Squirtle, and Seadra glared determinedly and nodded; the two former smirking, "Got it!"

Nincada just looked around fearfully from the middle of the crowd.

Arbok noticed and glanced back at him. He smiled and looked back ahead while brandishing the Poison Jab at the tip of his tail, "Hey, don't worry Nincada. We're not gonna let anything happen to you."

Squirtle smirked, "What he said. We've got you covered."

Nincada looked at them hopefully before flinching.

Seadra nodded, "Yeah. Just stay-"

"Guys?" Nincada muttered fearfully.

His teammates and Seadra perked up and glanced back before their eyes all widened. Nincada -now with a light blue outline around him- looked down at his claws in shock before looking ahead in terror.

Mewtwo flicked a finger up.

"AH!" Nincada screamed as he was suddenly hurled into the air. The others all looked up in shock as one of the pokéballs flew towards him.

Arbok grimaced, "Nincada!" He hurriedly formed Protect near the tip of his tail and slammed it into the ground to vault himself up towards the Trainee Pokémon.

Arbok got between Nincada and the black pokéball; making the Trainee's eyes widen in shock. The Cobra Pokémon glanced back at the pokéball as his eye markings lit up again.

Arbok used Protect.

But it failed.

Arbok's eyes widened in realization when the barrier didn't form, 'Crag! I already-' He frowned in frustration and curved his body to cover Nincada right as the pokéball hit him in the back of the head.

Nincada just stared in shock as the Poison-type vanished. Vine Whip shot up and wrapped around Nincada to pull him back to the ground.

"Arbok!" Nincada cried out fearfully while reaching a claw at the retreating pokéball, "Arbok!"

Bulbasaur held him back with Vine Whip, "Nincada, stop!" He frowned, "I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do right-"

"Bulbasaur!" Squirtle shouted before bashing him in the side with Aqua Tail.

As he flew back, Bulbasaur glanced at the Water-type and his eyes widened when he saw one of the pokéballs flying right where he was … and now at Squirtle. Squirtle had his eyes closed and teeth grit as the ball hit.

The Grass/Poison-type skidded to a halt and stared in shock as another of his teammates vanished. "Squirtle!" He shouted.

Seadra stared in shock, and Nincada stared fearfully and started trembling. Another pokéball shot at the Trainee. Bulbasaur noticed and quickly reeled Nincada in and out of its path; startling him.

Seadra snapped out of it and shot the pokéball with Ice Beam; encasing it in ice. Seadra rushed over to stand guard in front of Nincada and Bulbasaur as a swarm of pokéballs shot over to the trio and spun around them threateningly.

Seadra looked around frantically as the pokéballs closed in. Nincada stared fearfully and huddled closer to Bulbasaur with his eyes closed. Bulbasaur stared in shock before frowning and closing his eyes as he braced himself. And then the sound of metal being scraped sounded out. Rapidly.

Bulbasaur's eyes shot open, he looked ahead, and his eyes widened. Nincada slowly opened his eyes too.

Ash stood in front with his back to them and panted softly. The four of them were surrounded by black and purple metal shavings and bits of ice.

Seadra blinked in shock, "Woah…"

Nincada's eyes lit up and was about to run up, "Ash-"

"Wait." Bulbasaur said as he put a vine in front of him.

Nincada looked at Bulbasaur in surprise before looking at Ash again.

The boy had his teeth grit and empty fist clenched in frustration. "I'm sorry." He muttered.

Nincada's expression turned to worry, "Ash?"

"Seadra!" Misty blurted out as she ran up and pulled her Dragon Pokémon into a hug.

Seadra took a soft expression and nuzzled her. Ash and his Pokémon flinched slightly from the outburst and looked at them.

Ash took a deep breath before putting on a smile and looking at his Pokémon, "I'm glad you're okay, Nincada. Good job keeping him safe, Bulbasaur." Nincada's eyes widened slightly as Ash pulled out a pokéball and held it out, "Return." The beam shot out and absorbed the Trainee Pokémon. Ash put the pokéball with the others and did the same for Bulbasaur.

He looked at Misty as she returned Seadra. She put it in her other hand with Togepi and Goldeen's pokéballs and looked at Ash.

Ash smiled tiredly before looking at the Pewter Gym Leader and Professor's grandson again, "Spread out to get everyone! Don't make your movements predictable!" He turned and shot towards his Electric, Dark, and Fairy-type.

Brock started running towards Vulpix and Misty rushed over to Psyduck and Staryu. Gary looked at them in surprise before shaking it off and hurrying off into the battlefield.

As Gary ran, he took Arcanine's pokéball from his belt and looked around frantically for any sign of his Fire-type. But they were moving too fast for him to catch more than a glimpse.

Gary stopped and looked around, 'Come on! Where the Yvel are you!' He took a deep breath and shouted, "Ar-" He flinched and slapped a hand over his mouth when he remembered what happened before.

He gritted his teeth in frustration, "How the Yvel am I supposed to-"

"NINE!" Came a loud yelp that cut Gary off. He jerked and looked back right as his Legendary Pokémon disappeared into the pokéball. Gary stared in shock, "Y- you've gotta be joking…"

"Vulpix!" "Psyduck!"

Gary flinched and looked over to see the Gym Leaders trying to reach to one of the retreating pokéballs. He stared in shock before looking over to where Soot was.

Ash stood guard in front of her, his pikachu, and his clefairy while slashing away at the massive swarm of pokéballs with his right claws. His other five pokéballs were definitely in his left hand.

Soot and the pikachu next to her were wildly firing Shadow Balls, a rainbow beam attack, and what looked like Thunderbolt to push the pokéballs back for Ash to take care of later.

The clefairy was next to Pikachu and was using a slapping move and something telekinetic to fend off the ones that were getting unsettlingly close. Mewtwo wasn't even giving Ash a second to return then.

Gary looked around the stadium. Ash's Pokémon were the last ones. Brock, Misty, Corey, and Neesha were guarding the few pokéballs they had but it was obvious that most of the remaining swarm was targeting Soot and the other two.

The only odd one out was Nurse Joy's dragonite. She and them just looked at the Ketchums in surprise. But Gary didn't pay those two any mind.

'What are we supposed to do…' Gary looked over at the attacking Psychic-type, 'Mewtwo has us outnum-' He perked up, 'Wait. Mewtwo…'

'You're not just a new or branching species similar to the Phantom … o-or something like a phione. You were created. You're a … an altered clone of … of Mew.'

Gary looked at Mewtwo, 'Phantom-' His eyes widened before he looked to the side again.

The glow on Clefairy's fingers faded right before she became shrouded in golden light and kicked off. Pikachu glanced over as she did.

Double-Edge hit its mark and managed to crack the pokéball it hit. Clefairy panted for a moment before turning to hurry back to the others. But she fumbled and fell to her knees in exhaustion.

One of Mewtwo's pokéballs shot straight at her.

"Clefairy!" Pikachu shouted before lighting up from Quick Attack and shooting over to her.

Ash looked at him in alarm, "Pikachu!"

The Mouse Pokémon tackled Clefairy out of the way to dodge the oncoming pokéball. But now he was in its path.

Pikachu looked ahead to find Clefairy falling back and looking at him fearfully. He stared for a moment before closing his eyes and forcing a smile. Clefairy's eyes widened as the pokéball approached Pikachu when-

"WAIT!"

Pikachu and Clefairy hit the ground. The Electric-type slowly opened his eyes and looked ahead to find Clefairy looking at him in shock. He looked over and his eyes widened in shock when he found the pokéball not even an inch from his face.

The guests all turned to look at Gary in surprise. Mewtwo glanced at him.

Clefairy also took this opportunity to hurry back to her feet and run over to help Pikachu up and regroup with Ash and Soot.

Gary panted a bit before gulping and calling out, "Th- the mirror match isn't over yet! There's still one more round!"

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed, 'I have no interest in allowing Blastoisetwo to battle your blastoise.'

Blastoisetwo glared at Gary.

Gary shook his head, "I don't mean my blastoise."

Mewtwo raised a brow before perking up in realization, 'Ah.' They looked at Dragonite, 'You're referring to his clone.'

Dragonite's eyes widened, "Huh?"

Mewtwo looked at Gary, 'While I'll commend you for putting that together, I have no interest in that battle either. I've already gotten what I wanted from him.'

Joy blinked in surprise, 'Is that why they ignored us?'

Gary tensed up slightly, 'Seriously?! They even have a Dragonitetwo?!' He shook it off and glared again, "Not Dragonite, either." He pointed at Mewtwo, "I mean you," He then pointed at the Dark-type, "against her!"

Soot flinched and looked at Gary in shock, "Excuse you?!"

Brock, Misty, Pikachu, and Clefairy jerked and looked at Gary in alarm, Corey, Neesha, Fergus, Joy, and Dragonite looked at him in confusion, and Ash looked at Gary blankly. The clones stared blankly as well.

Mewtwo blinked in surprise, 'Come again?'

"You heard me." Gary said, "You against Soot. The Phantom Child versus the Phantom's clone."

The group tensed up slightly and those out of the loop looked at Gary in shock. Mewtwo perked up a little.

Fergus's eyes widened in shock and he muttered, "Phantom…" He looked at Soot, "Child?"

Ash stared at his rival in pure shock before glaring furiously with Intimidate flickering, "Gary…"

A shiver shot up Gary's spine before he glared back at Ash, "And what do you suggest?! Soot's not only the strongest Pokémon any of us have, she's the only Dark-type! She's probably the only one who can hold a claw to that thing!"

Ash practically growled, "That does not give you the right to volunteer Soot for something like this!"

'Actually, I like the idea.' Mewtwo said; catching most of the crowd's attention. Pikachu translated, making Soot and Ash flinch and look over.

While smirking, Mewtwo pulled back the remaining pokéballs, 'A battle between myself and my prototype's most unique creation. I must admit, it sounds interesting.' They put a hand to their chest, 'I'll even make you a deal. If you can defeat me, I'll cease my attack entirely and return all of your Pokémon. Under these circumstances, I'm willing to settle for the DNA samples I've already acquired.'

Everyone perked up in surprise. Charizardtwo, Blastoisetwo, and Venusaurtwo perked up and looked at Mewtwo in surprise.

After getting the relay, Soot stared at them in surprise. "get everyone back?" She muttered before glaring, "You're serious about that?"

Ash jerked and looked back at her in alarm.

Mewtwo nodded; still smirking, 'You have my wor-'

Ash kneeled down and put a hand on his hatchling's head; unknowingly cutting off Mewtwo, "Soot, you don't have to do this. We can find another-"

"Can we?" Soot interrupted while glancing at him, "Even if you return the three of us, what's going to stop Mewtwo from trying harder or taking more extreme measures to get us? Or anyone else?" Her eyes narrowed and she glanced at the watch, "Unless you're willing to expose us over this."

Ash tensed up slightly and frowned worriedly.

"Dad," Soot said, "this might be our safest bet to get everyone back. Please trust me."

Ash frowned worriedly but nodded, "Alright." He stood back up, "Just please be careful."

Soot nodded and looked over at the shoulder riders. Pikachu nodded and was about to walk up to her when Clefairy grabbed his arm. He looked back in surprise to find her looking down worriedly while holding his arm tightly.

Pikachu smiled sadly and put a paw on her hand, "Hey." Clefairy looked him in the eye. "I'll stay safe. Promise."

Clefairy still frowned but gave a small nod before letting go. Pikachu smiled kindly before hurrying up to stand next to Soot. Clefairy jumped up to Ash's shoulder.

The pair walked up, and Soot glared, "Alright, I'll accept under one condition."

Mewtwo just raised a brow, 'Promising to return your teammates isn't enough?'

Pikachu translated and Soot said, "Not that kind of condition. I just want some time to cool down after what just happened. You wouldn't want your opponent to be worn out before even starting, would you?"

Mewtwo stared for a moment before a telepathic sigh rang out, 'Fine. How long?'

Soot glared, "Three hours."

'Half an hour.' Mewtwo responded without hesitation. Pikachu translated.

"Two and a half."

'One.'

"Two."

'One-fifteen, final offer.' Mewtwo smirked, 'Or did you believe I would allow you to resolve Multifaker for your entire move set?'

Gary, Brock, Misty, Pikachu, and Clefairy flinched and stared in shock. Fergus, Neesha, Joy, and Dragonite looked at Mewtwo in confusion.

Corey blinked in surprise and looked at Soot in confusion, 'Multi-what?'

Soot waited for a moment before glancing down at the Electric-type next to her, "Pikachu?"

Pikachu snapped out of it and quickly relayed the message. Clefairy did the same for Ash; making the boy's eyes widen.

Soot's eyes widened in shock before she jerked to look at Mewtwo again. She glared, "Fine, you have a deal. One hour, fifteen minutes."

Mewtwo nodded, 'I'm glad we've reached a consensus.' They cut off their levitation and sat down in their trainer zone. All but one of the black pokéballs vanished, 'But if so much as a minute passes after time is up,' They pointed at the levitating pokéball, 'I'll set this on you without hesitation.'

Pikachu translated and Soot glared at Mewtwo, "I get it." She walked over to the trainer box and laid down with her eyes closed.

'Not wasting any time, I see.' Mewtwo looked at the trainers, 'I'll ask that the rest of you be seated until the final round begins.'

They then focused on Misty, 'Also, you're free to let your togepi back out. I have no interest in capturing him.' She perked up in surprise as they continued, 'Don't mistake this for kindness. I just feel he's too young to make a suitable clone.' They then looked at Joy, 'I also have no interest in Dragonite. I don't need a duplicate DNA sample.' They closed their eyes too. The pokéball hovered in place next to them.

Clefairy relayed the last part to Ash as Pikachu ran back over to his trainer and jumped onto his shoulder. Ash smiled somberly and petted both of his Pokémon before looking at Soot anxiously. He took a deep breath and turned to walk over to the table. Everyone else was already heading over to it.

Ash perked up upon noticing something and looked back at Mewtwo, "Hey! We don't have enough-" He stopped and tensed up when he heard a thump and looked back to find an eighth chair at the end of the table.

Ash looked back to see Mewtwo glancing at the table with an eye glowing blue. They closed their eyes again.

Ash stared for a moment before walking over to take a seat. Corey glanced at him before he and everyone else followed suit.

Misty and Fergus sat in the middle on each side of the table with Ash and Brock on either side of her and Corey and Neesha on either side of him. Gary was at the end of the table between Corey and Ash and Joy was on the opposite end between Brock and Neesha. Dragonite sat on the ground next to his trainer, Pikachu and Clefairy were in Ash's lap, and Misty was just now letting Togepi back out.

"PRIII!" Togepi bawled while hugging Misty.

Misty shushed him softly and petted his back, "It's alright, sweetie. It's alright. I know it was scary but you're safe."

Togepi looked up at her with tears still in his eyes and sniffled. He started looking around. Misty tensed up slightly and frowned shamefully.

Togepi perked up and looked up at her worriedly, "Meema?"

Ash and Brock noticed and looked at her.

The breeder frowned, "Misty, are you okay?"

"…I lost Psyduck." Misty muttered apprehensively.

Gary sweat dropped, "Yeah, pretty sure we all lost most of our Pokémon."

"That's-" Misty snapped at him before taking a shaky breath, "That's not what I mean." She looked down at Seadra's pokéball, "Staryu was guarding him with Light Screen, and I had to keep a grip on my other pokéballs. I could only return them one at a time, so I was gonna return Psyduck first. But he told me to start with Staryu."

'Just trust me on this!'

Misty clenched a fist and frowned shamefully, "He was right there … but I couldn't save him."

"I doubt that's what really happened." Ash whispered abruptly.

Everyone else perked up and looked at him in surprise.

Ash glanced at Misty intently, "You know better than any of us how smart Psyduck actually is when Calm Mind's in effect. Does he really seem like the type to pull some half-baked chivalry crag like that, without a reason?"

Misty stared in confusion for a moment. Then her eyes widened before she glanced at Mewtwo, looked at Ash again, and whispered, "You think he let himself get caught on purpose?"

Everyone else -except Brock- looked at her in surprise. Brock stared curiously before looking down thoughtfully.

"It makes the most sense." Ash responded, "I don't know why he would do that, but I'll bet that he has a plan."

Misty stared in surprise before looking down again, "I hope you're right." She took a deep breath to calm herself.

Neesha looked at her sympathetically.

Corey frowned before looking across at Ash and cleared his throat, "Hey, um … I know this might not be the best time, but there's something I feel I need to ask."

Ash sighed and looked at him, "You want to know what Multifaker is."

"No." Corey said. Ash perked up in surprise as the trainer in the vest glanced away, "Er, well… yeah, that too." He looked at Ash, "But that's not what I'm focused on right now. I want to know why you know so much about the pokéballs Mewtwo used."

Brock, Misty, Pikachu, Clefairy, and Togepi tensed up and Gary, Fergus, Neesha, Joy, and Dragonite perked up in realization before looking at Ash.

Corey just stared calmly, "You've been doing a lot to try and save our Pokémon and go against Mewtwo, so I don't want to believe that you're secretly working with it." His eyes narrowed warily, "But the fact that you have prior knowledge about something that's obviously illegal isn't very comforting."

Neesha, Joy, and Dragonite's eyes widened fearfully. Gary and Fergus stared in shock before the latter glared at Ash.

Ash remained silent for a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "I didn't have prior knowledge about them. I learned how they work because I have an eye for tech."

Corey frowned in confusion, "Even if you're good with computers, I don't see how-"

"No." Ash interrupted while pointing at his left eye, "I mean I literally have an eye for tech."

Fergus's glare slowly faded to a confused look, "What?"

Ash covered his eye with his left hand and reached his right up to his eye; covered by the other hand. He frowned uncomfortably.

Brock, Misty, Pikachu, Clefairy, and Togepi looked over before perking up in realization, 'Oh, right.'

.

**Flashback**

Brock -with Electra on his shoulder- and Misty -with Togepi in her arms- walked through the front door to the Ketchum residence.

"Hey, we're-" Misty called out before she, Brock, and their Pokémon flinched.

Ash sat on the sofa while frowning uncomfortably and with a hand over his left eye and tears in his right. Soot, Pikachu, and Clefairy sat around him and were looking at him; backs currently to the Gym Leaders.

Brock grimaced and held out a hand, "Woah! Ash, are you okay?!"

Misty took a step forward, "This isn't from the headache, right?!"

Ash waved his free hand at them; still frowning uncomfortably, "No, it's not that. I'm fine. Really."

Soot looked back at them calmly, "Stray eyelash. Literally just happened."

The Gym Leaders and their Pokémon sighed in relief.

Ash rubbed his eye a little and blinked rapidly for a moment. He sighed, "Okay." He smiled and looked at everyone else, "Sorry for the sca-" He stopped and stared in surprise when he saw everyone else staring at him. He blinked in surprise and looked around, "What is it?"

.

**End Flashback**

Fergus, Corey, Neesha, Joy, and Dragonite stared in pure shock. Gary stared as well and was slack jawed. Everyone in the group just looked calmly.

Ash stared back at the shocked ones calmly; left eye bloodshot. Though, rather than veins, his pupil was surrounded by what looked like red circuitry patterns.

"See? Eye for tech." Ash said, "Whenever I look at a machine, the schematics and coding just start floating out of it. And the longer I stare, the more I get. That is how I knew so much about the pokéballs. I just stared at one of them."

"woah…" Neesha muttered.

Joy stared in pure shock, 'An ability like that…' She gulped, 'I hope to Arceus what my family says about him is true…'

Gary blinked in shock, "And … since when was this a thing?"

Ash looked at him before glancing at Joy for a second, 'She'd definitely tell her relative in Matcha…' He looked at Gary again, "When I got Nincada, remember who we said would be visiting the lab? A while back, we visited him so he could meet Brock and Misty … and there was another accident. What you're looking at now is what happens when my eye becomes bloodshot."

Gary stared blankly before deadpanning, "Why do you keep visiting that nut job?"

Ash deadpanned as well, "It was just supposed to be a friendly visit."

Joy looked back and forth between them before shaking it off. She then perked up in realization and looked at Ash, "Wait. Then can't you find out where the Pokémon were taken by finding the cloning machine."

Everyone out of the loop perked up and looked at Ash.

Ash frowned, "That's easier said than done. There's a range limit and it can take longer to fully work if the tech is hidden behind something solid; even glass. That and a lot of tech can make it hard to focus. In tech-heavy buildings, I have to take certain precautions to keep from suffering a mental overload."

Joy, Dragonite, Corey, and Neesha tensed up and stared in surprise.

Gary raised a brow, 'Precautions … wait, is that why he was wearing sunglasses at gramps's place?'

Fergus deadpanned, "You make psychic powers sound like a bad thing."

Ash glanced at him, "It's not a psychic ability…" He glanced away, "I think…" He shook it off and looked around at everyone, "But even if I may not be able to find the machine," His eyes shifted slightly as he focused on the light fixture further back behind Fergus and Corey, "rest assured that I'm keeping an eye out for something."

Corey, Neesha, and Joy perked up and sighed in relief, Brock, Misty, and Gary smirked, and Togepi smiled.

Clefairy jerked and looked at her trainer in alarm, "Wait, what do you mean keep an eye-" She froze, groaned, and slumped forward, "It's another expression, isn't it?"

Pikachu smiled softly and patted her on the back.

Ash glanced at them and smiled softly before looking around again, "As for Multifaker, it's a … 'process' that Soot and I thought up." He looked over at her, "Right now, she's changing her move set from memory."

Fergus, Corey, Neesha, and Joy jumped and looked at him in shock. Dragonite's jaw dropped.

"Are-" Joy stuttered, "Are you serious?"

Ash looked at her and nodded, "Completely. She did the same thing to catch Giovanni off guard at the Viridian Gym."

Fergus stood up and slammed the table; startling almost everyone, "WAIT, WHAT?! You actually got to battle Giovanni?! I got thrashed by some old guy named Tyson!"

Gary glanced away and grumbled, "Join the club."

Neesha looked at Gary and Fergus in surprise before looking at Ash in shock, "So, wait. Changing a Pokémon's moves like that … that's allowed?"

Ash propped his head up with a fist, "This specific method? Yes. The League rules say that, during a sanctioned battle, a Pokémon can't change their moves using outside help. Most of the time, that means a Technical Machine."

He smirked, "But Pokémon are allowed to learn new moves on their own at any point in time. Soot and I might have worked together to come up with it, but the actual process is her effort, alone. After I explained that, even Giovanni backed me up when his own referee argued. He did it begrudgingly but did it nonetheless."

Joy glanced around thoughtfully before blinking in surprise and pointing at Ash, "well, you're not wrong…" She frowned, "but that still sounds very unfair in a sanctioned event."

Ash looked at her, "Maybe but it's not so straightforward. Multifaker requires a powerful memory and a lot of time and concentration. I don't want to go into too much detail, so I'll just say that one hour isn't enough for all four moves." Corey, Neesha, and Fergus perked up in surprise as Ash glanced at Mewtwo warily, "But, right now, I'm more focused on how Mewtwo knows that."

Gary deadpanned and tapped his temple with a finger, "Uh, hello? They're a Psychic-type."

Ash looked at him, "Then how have we been able to surprise them?"

Brock perked up and looked at Ash in surprise, "What do you mean?"

Ash brought up his right hand and sprouted his claws; making those out of the loop flinch and stare in surprise, "That look on Mewtwo's face when I saved Charizard, Bruteroot, and Shellshocker. They didn't know about these."

Neesha blinked in shock and pointed, "Speaking of-"

"It's the gloves. Self-made." He said quickly before retracting his claws and looking at the professor's grandson, "Plus they had to keep guessing what you were talking about for the last round. They didn't immediately know you meant Soot."

He glanced over at the Gym Leaders, "Meaning that, even though they can control a being's mind, they can't read our surface thoughts with ease." His eyes narrowed, "They don't know our secrets."

The Gym Leaders and shoulder riders jerked and stared in shock upon realizing what he meant. Everyone else perked up in surprise.

'That's right …' Brock looked over at Mewtwo in shock, 'they accepted the challenge because they really think that Soot's…'

Fergus stared in shock, "But … it's the world's strongest Pokémon, isn't it? So, it's probably just faking being surprised."

"I thought of that too." Ash said, "But it seemed too genuine. Believably faking a flinch isn't as easy as you might think."

Fergus frowned and shot a sideways glare at the Psychic-type, "So it lied about being the strongest."

Ash glanced at him for a moment before saying, "I think it's more like they're still refining certain abilities. While their telekinesis is incredible, they've only used broadcast telepathy instead of targeted, they don't know Miracle Eye -if their kind can even learn it-, and while they can teleport other objects and individuals, we haven't seen them teleport themselves. They've only levitated." He sweat dropped, "Though, that last one could just be them showing off."

Everyone stared in surprise as Ash looked down thoughtfully, "Mewtwo's definitely powerful -scarily so-, but it seems like they're still working on refining themselves." He looked around as his eyes narrowed, "Which brings back the question. How did they find out about Multifaker?"

Everyone just stared in surprise before a few started sharing unsure looks.

Ash glanced at Mewtwo, "The only thing that makes sense is that someone told them or they … 'found' someone else who knew about it. The issue is that most of the people on that list are right here. The only others who should know are my mother, Professor Oak, Giovanni, and the referee from our Gym Battle." 'But if it were mom or the professor, things would be going very differently.'

'That leaves Giovanni, the ref, or' He looked at the Oak boy, "Gary."

Gary flinched and stared in shock before glaring, "You're blaming me for this?!"

"I'm not accusing you of anything." Ash said calmly, "I just need to know if you can think of any moment in your journey where there was a memory lapse you couldn't explain." Gary perked up and stared in surprise as he continued, "Or if you told your cheerleaders about Multifaker."

Corey, Neesha, and Fergus jerked and looked at Gary in confusion, 'Cheerleaders?'

Brock, Misty, Joy, and the Pokémon looked at Gary.

Gary stared in surprise before shaking his head, "I never told the girls about it. Or anyone else, for that matter." He looked down thoughtfully, "As for a memory lapse…" He frowned uncomfortably, "nothing really comes to mind." He glanced at Mewtwo warily.

'Giovanni or the ref then.' Ash looked down thoughtfully with a hand to his chin, 'But they only learned about Multifaker a week ago. And that's assuming Mewtwo could have gotten close enough to someone that high profile, undetected.'

Ash glanced at Mewtwo harshly, 'There's still too much we don't know.' "There's something we're missing."

.

*Three days prior

Everyone looked at the screen again as Soot's Intimidate took effect.

Joy perked up in surprise, 'Wait, did she hold back her ability before?'

Giovanni's eyes widened before he glared, "Earthquake!"

Rhyperior clenched a fist and threw a strong punch into the ground. A white pulse spread out from the impact.

Soot smirked and kicked off to charge Rhyperior as the ground began shaking. She jumped over the Ground-type attack as a red sphere of energy appeared on each of her paws. Giovanni perked up in mild surprise as the spheres detonated on the spot and flung Soot high into the air.

Soot held out her forepaws as a swarm of Hidden Power formed around her. She gestured ahead and threw the swarm at Rhyperior.

"Stone Edge!"

Rhyperior snapped out of his blank stare and glared as his body took on a white outline. A crossing ring of jagged stones appeared around him. He held out a claw to Soot as the rocks shot off rapidly.

The Stone Edge tore through the Hidden Power spheres and detonated them on the spot. The mass of explosions scattered both sets of attacks. But a few of each managed to slip through.

Soot detonated another handful of Hidden Power to shoot down and avoid the last few stones. She righted herself in the air and landed on all fours. Rhyperior crossed his arm as a pair of Soot's Hidden Power struck. He grunted and stumbled back.

Giovanni glared, "Use Megahorn!"

Rhyperior shook it off and broke into a wild charge towards Soot. As he did, the horn on his nose lit up white and extended.

Soot jumped up to her hind paws as all of her paws became engulfed in a purple-outlined, black mass of energy forming larger claws. Rhyperior lunged and Soot shot her forepaws into the Bug-type attack. Her hind claws dug into the ground to hold her in place as Rhyperior tried to push through the Ghost attack.

Blaine, Joy, and Flint perked up in surprise.

Giovanni's eyes widened in shock, "Shadow Claw?!"

Soot smirk and blipped her eyes to and from the banette style, "The banette DNA opens a few doors!" She opened her mouth as a Hidden Power formed.

"Thunder Punch!"

Surge frowned in confusion, "Wait, Sucker Punch, Shadow Claw, Hidden Power, and Shadow Ball? Doesn't that-" He stopped and his eyes widened at the next part.

Still trying to push with Megahorn, Rhyperior clenched his right fist as a mass of electricity shrouded it and threw a punch towards Soot's side. Soot glanced over at the fist. What happened next took only a second.

Soot canceled Hidden Power and her frontal Shadow Claws to let Megahorn pass, moved her paws into the path of Thunder Punch, and used Shadow Claw again to grab the attack. She leaned her head to the left as Megahorn narrowly scratched her right cheek and then canceled the hind Shadow Claws. A cluster of Hidden Power formed and detonated along her right side as she used Rhyperior's fist as a pivot to swing around the Ground/Rock-type. She then did a quick twirl on a hind paw to deliver a slash to his back with Shadow Claw.

"RHY!" The Drill Pokémon shouted as he stumbled over and crashed to the ground.

Soot canceled Shadow Claw again and finished the spin before falling back to all fours behind Rhyperior. She turned around to look at him curiously, rubbed her right cheek with a paw, and frowned, "Hm. Guess I underestimated you."

Everyone else in the area and viewing stared in shock. Except Ash who was smiling proudly, Rhyperior who was still lying on the ground, and Giovanni and Koga who already knew that outcome.

"woah…" Surge muttered before shaking it off, "uh, anyway." He raised a brow, "Doesn't that move set seem kinda unbalanced to anyone else? Especially for her?"

Giovanni cracked a small smile, "Just keep watching. Trust me."

"Rhyperior!" Giovanni shouted to his Pokémon. His Pokémon jerked and hurriedly started moving back to his feet. At the same time, Soot kicked off.

Rhyperior stood back up and turned to glare at Soot. His eyes widened when he found Soot running around him. He looked around frantically as he tried to follow her.

"Earthquake!"

Soot smirked and jumped up as Rhyperior threw a punch into the ground. Then the ground exploded and a massive cloud of dust shrouded his Ground/Rock-type and Ash's Dark-type.

Blaine flinched, "What the Yvel?!"

"Ground-type Hidden Power!" Ash called out, "They're a lot better than Grass at making landmines!"

Blaine perked up, "Oh."

Giovanni sweat dropped before straightening up, "Stay calm Rhyperior! Watch for her and prepare Stone Edge!"

A dim light appeared from the dust cloud. After a moment, a swarm of Stone Edge shot out of the dust. Then another in a different direction. Then again.

"Focus!" Giovanni shouted, "Don't fire until you're sure it's actually her!"

The Stone Edges stopped firing entirely. The dust started settling and Rhyperior's silhouette became more visible. He was looking around cautiously as the Stone Edge rings continued floating around him.

A shadow quickly shot across Rhyperior's back and slashed him with Shadow Claw before detonating Hidden Power to shoot away.

The dust around Rhyperior faded from the blast as he flinched and fired Stone Edge towards the assailant. As a result, Soot's leg flew out of the remaining cloud.

Rhyperior's eyes widened as another explosion went off behind him and cleared away more dust. He managed to glance over just in time to find Soot shooting towards him with her mouth open and a layer of ice covering her teeth. He grimaced as the Dark-type clamped down on his shoulder with Ice Fang.

Nearly everyone in the room flinched and their eyes widened in shock. All except the Viridian, Fuchsia, and Cerulean Leaders. The last of which just didn't notice.

Rhyperior aimed Stone Edge at Soot and fired again. Soot let go of his shoulder and shot away with Hidden Power … mostly. A few stones still managed to nick Soot as she ran over and reattached her foreleg.

"Wha-" Flint stuttered, "d- did I see that right?" Daisy looked at him in confusion.

Giovanni smirked.

The dust cloud settled. Rhyperior let out a tired sigh and turned to face Soot again; awaiting his trainer's orders.

"What-" The recording of Giovanni muttered while staring in shock, "what the Yvel?"

The referee looked at him in surprise, "Sir?" Rhyperior glanced back at him in confusion.

Soot smirked slyly and glanced at the ref, "Miss, if you would, please tell me what moves I've used this match? The battle earlier, included."

The ref looked at her in surprise, "Um …" She started counting on her fingers, "Shadow Ball, I believe Sucker Punch, Shadow Claw, and Hidden Power." After a moment, she tensed up and her eyes widened, "and" She put up a fifth finger and looked at Soot blankly, "Ice Fang?"

Rhyperior's eyes widened before he shot a quick glance at the ref and looked back at Soot, "Rhyper?"

Daisy's eyes widened, "Wait, what?"

Erika stared in shock, "How the Yvel did she…" She trailed off.

Giovanni kept his eyes on the screen; still smirking, "Just keep watching."

"H- how- What did you-"

Soot smiled, "It's actually kinda simple. I've been changing my move set from memory since the battle with Nidoking."

Giovanni's recording and everyone else's eyes widened further as she continued, "And before you ask, it's not Inheritance …" She sweat dropped, "in the sense you're thinking…" She shook it off and smiled happily, "I was just raised well."

The viewers were speechless.

"Hold on a second!" The ref blurted out, "That has to be against the rules!"

Ash looked at her calmly, "How so?"

She tensed up, "T- trainer's aren't allowed to change their Pokémon's move set during a battle! I know that for a fact!"

Ash smiled, "Right. So, we haven't broken any rules."

The ref glared at him, "Of course, you-"

"No." Giovanni said in mild frustration, "He's right." The ref looked at him in surprise as he continued, "The rule says 'Trainers may not alter the move set of their Pokémon between or during rounds of a match.'" His eyes narrowed, "However, so long as a Technical Machine isn't involved, there are no rules against a Pokémon learning a new move on its own. At any point in time."

The referee's eyes widened in shock before she looked at Ash.

Ash smiled, "Yup. Just like how Pidgeot replaced Quick Attack with Mirror Move during her battle with Seismitoad." He pointed a thumb back at the entrance, "And you'd know if I even owned a TM because of the sensors at the door."

Giovanni let out an annoyed "Tch." He glared and pointed, "Use Thunder-" He got interrupted by Joy pausing the video. She was staring blankly.

The room was silent. Most of the Gym Leaders were still processing the new information.

"Uh…" Surge muttered, "that-" He chuckled shakily, "just when I thought she couldn't get any scarier…"

"Does that really not go against any regulations?" Blaine asked.

"It doesn't…" Joy muttered while looking down in shock. Everyone looked at her as she continued, "Giovanni and Ash Ketchum explained it precisely. A Pokémon learning a new move unassisted is completely allowed at any point during a match." She looked back at everyone, "Something I'm sure all of us have seen at least once before."

Flint, Daisy, Surge, Sabrina, Erika, and Blaine perked up before glancing away awkwardly.

"Before now, there's never been a reason to expand on that rule." Joy continued. She looked down unsurely, "Outlawing the Phantom Child's Marionetter was one thing, but this…"

"Well, to be fair," Koga said; catching everyone's attention, "I don't thing outlawing M- this technique would be necessary due to how she described it. Soot said this wasn't a matter of Inheritance. Only that she was 'raised well'. I can only imagine she's referring to intelligence."

Everyone perked up as Giovanni nodded, "Right." He looked at the Vermillion leader, "Surge, you said she put you on a losing streak some time ago by giving advice to trainers, right? What all did she say?"

Surge perked up in surprise, "Oh, um … she wouldn't actually tell me but I'm pretty sure it was stuff like strategies or training advice. And from the look of all those rematches, it seemed she told them all different stuff depending on what Pokémon they had."

Giovanni nodded, "I see." He looked around, "So, tell me, how many Pokémon do you think would be capable of giving out that kind of information? Let alone memorizing so much."

The Saffron Gym Leader perked up.

Erika frowned unsurely and sweat dropped, "I mean … most of us can't understand Pokémon."

Flint sweat dropped too, "And most of us haven't actually met a talking one besides Soot."

Giovanni deadpanned, "That isn't the point I'm trying to make."

"Actually, I think it kind of is." Sabrina said while looking up thoughtfully. Everyone looked at her as she looked around at them, "I've read the minds of a lot of Pokémon and trainers and the difference is pretty obvious. I can say pretty confidently that a Pokémon learning to speak human verbally is a way bigger sign of intelligence than you might think."

Giovanni sweat dropped.

"I mean," Sabrina continued, "us humans learn to talk over time just by listening to our parents talk." She glanced away and smiled slyly, "or, in my case, by listening to their thoughts…"

She shook it off and looked at everyone again, "Whereas most Pokémon can talk and think clearly almost immediately after hatching. But, despite that, the number of Pokémon who can talk is wildly low. Even among ones raised solely by humans. Too them, learning another language is just too complicated. They'd have to either think like a human or be really motivated to learn."

Everyone stared in surprise.

'He's undoubtably the latter…' Giovanni thought before glancing down thoughtfully, 'still … to be that motivated…'

Surge crossed his arms, "Huh … I guess when you put it like that…" He trailed off.

"Okay but," Daisy said while frowning, "doesn't changing up a whole move set that easily still seem, like, crazy unfair?"

"Actually she didn't." Giovanni said; making most of the others flinch and look at him. He glanced around at them and looked at the video again, "You'll see what I mean. They explain this technique after the match."

Joy took that as her cue to hit play.

"-Punch!" Rhyperior charged and attempted to hit Soot with the Electric-type attack; only for her to dodge, "Don't let up!"

Rhyperior kept swinging and Soot kept dodging. Rhyperior then knelt down and threw a right sweep and Soot jumped up to dodge.

Acting fast, Rhyperior canceled the sparks on his right, put his arm to the ground to push himself forward, and jabbed with his left Thunder Punch.

Soot stared in mild surprise before inhaling deeply and screaming a series of light blue rings. Rhyperior grimaced, canceled Thunder Punch, and covered his ear holes.

He was forced back from the sound waves but managed to use them to get back to his feet. Soot launched back from her sound attack and skidded to a halt.

Surge smiled, "That's more like it."

Giovanni grimaced before shaking it off and glaring, "Megahorn!" Rhyperior kicked off and charged Soot as Giovanni put a hand to his chin. After a moment, he gritted his teeth.

Sabrina blinked in surprise and smirked at Giovanni, "You look deep in thought."

Giovanni glanced at her and then looked at the screen, "I was thinking over what she said about Mul- her move-switching, the moves she'd used in the battle, and the possibility of other moves not natural to her kind. Shadow Claw, for example."

Daisy blinked in surprise, 'That's not natural?'

Soot propelled over the charging rhyperior.

"She said she had been changing her move set since Nidoking." He continued, "So, I was considering things like there being a time limit for the technique or a lack thereof as a bluff. In hindsight, she was only being vague to make me overthink things." He cracked a small smirk, "As well as miss something."

Everyone looked at him in surprise before flinching in response to Soot's point-blank Hyper Voice and looked back at the screen in time for the Ice Fang graze.

Giovanni gritted his teeth, "Earthquake! Now!"

Rhyperior punched the ground; sending out a white pulse. Soot frowned and used Hidden Power again to stay airborne. The explosion caught Rhyperior's attention.

"Charge it!" Giovanni shouted, "And use Stone Edge!"

Soot's eyes widened as the Drill Pokémon's attack shot towards her. She inhaled and screamed another Hyper Voice to knock most of the oncoming rocks off course. Soot crossed her forelegs in front of her and gritted her teeth as the rest barraged her.

Rhyperior continued his run and got up next to Soot. The Dark-type glanced at him in alarm.

"Thunder Punch!"

Rhyperior skidded to a halt, pivoted, and threw his sparking fist towards Soot's back. Soot held out her right foreleg, grabbed the upper part of her leg with her left, and tore off the appendage in one swift motion. Shadow Claw formed on the detached limb as she moved it around to block the Thunder Punch.

Giovanni, the referee, and most of the viewers' eyes widened at the sight.

Koga smirked, "It surprised me as well. Just goes to show how resourceful she is."

Rhyperior stared in shock. He glared and followed through with the punch; sending Soot flying forward.

Soot repositioned her right leg and detonated Hidden Power from it to spin around. She reattached her leg and skidded back to a halt on her side of the field. She then tensed up as a bolt of electricity traveled across her body.

Brock, Misty, Togepi, and Electra flinched and stared fearfully.

Surge's eyes widened, "Uh oh."

Giovanni's eyes widened before he grinned, "Now!" He pointed and shouted, "Megahorn! Full Power!"

Rhyperior broke into a mad sprint towards Soot as his horn lit up and extended. Soot stared down the approaching Ground/Rock-type. Rhyperior jumped ahead and lunged at her when-

"SOOT!" Ash shouted.

Everyone looked at him and their eyes widened when they saw him holding out a pokéball to the mightyena. Soot glanced at him and cracked a sly smirk.

Ash smirked back, "Return!"

Soot looked back at Rhyperior as the attack drilled into her head. Soot stuck out her tongue as she finished dissolving into red energy. The Ground/Rock-type stared in shock as his opponent vanished. He stumbled forward in an attempt to stop and crashed to the ground.

"WOAH! WHAT?!" Blaine blurted out.

Sabrina smiled happily and clapped briefly, "Ooh! Surprise twist!"

"But, I don't-" Erika stuttered aimlessly, "Y- you can't do that unless you have another Pokémon! Right?!"

Joy nodded; also in shock, "Right! Doing so otherwise without proper cause would mean the trainer's returned Pokémon would be disquali-" She stopped and her eyes widened in realization, "wait."

Koga smirked, "So you've noticed."

Daisy looked at him in shock, "What? Noticed what? Wasn't Soot his last Pokémon?"

"No." Surge said before grinning excitedly, "He still has-"

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted while pointing ahead, "Finish it!"

Everyone looked at the screen again as the Mouse Pokémon jumped up to his hind paws, got on all fours, and shot onto the field and towards Rhyperior with Quick Attack.

"Earthquake!" Giovanni shouted.

Rhyperior shakily pushed himself to his knees, balled a fist, and hit the ground; shaking the area.

Flint frowned, "Rhyperior's not looking so good."

"He's exhausted." Giovanni answered as Pikachu shot into the air with Signal Beam. Some of the others looked at him in surprise as he continued, "He put everything he had into battling Soot. The fact that he can still form attacks is commendable." He smiled kindly, "He more than earned his time off."

"Stone Edge!"

Still on his knees, the Drill Pokémon glared up at Pikachu and formed a ring of jagged rocks around himself. The rocks shot into the air towards the Electric-type.

The Mouse Pokémon held his paw back and propelled himself forward at high speed to dodge.

Giovanni watched the airborne Pokémon as he shot by to land on the wall behind him and then jumped off. What happened afterwards made the man flinch, and his eyes widen in shock, "What?!"

Rhyperior glanced back at him in confusion. He then perked up in surprise when he felt his ability taking effect and glanced up at his second horn, "Rhyper?" He looked back again and his eyes widened.

Pikachu was falling towards Rhyperior with a surge of electricity covering him. He shot straight towards the Ground/Rock-type as if he was being pulled towards him.

Surge jumped out of his seat with a huge grin on his face, "Lightning Rod! Pikachu's pulling himself in with it!"

Blaine smirked, "Same thing Primeape did to beat Rhydon."

"Pika!" Pikachu called out as he shot down towards Rhyperior's back. He cancelled the spark shroud and his tail lit up white, "Pika!" He spun and swung his tail down, "Chu Pi!" He slammed Iron Tail into the back of Rhyperior's neck, shot by on the follow through, and skidded forward to a halt.

"Rhy!" Rhyperior coughed. He fell forward and crashed to the ground; eyes swirling. Pikachu looked back at his opponent and smiled happily; tail wagging slightly.

The ref stared in pure shock. She took a deep breath and held up a hand, "Rhyperior is unable to battle. With two Pokémon remaining, the winner is" She gestured to the challenger, "Ashton Satoshi Ketchum…"

Giovanni and Koga quickly covered their ears as the rest of the room -except Joy- erupted into cheer. Joy shied away for a moment before smiling.

"I can't believe it!" Flint said excitedly, "He did it! He actually won!"

Surge smiled determinedly and clenched a fist, "Yeah! And with an Electric-type, no less! I knew that mouse was somethin' else!"

On screen, Ash let Soot back out and everyone walked towards the center of the field.

Giovanni perked up and looked at Flint blankly, "I'm sorry? What do you mean you 'can't believe it'? Of course, he won. We already sent him the nincada."

Flint flinched and chuckled nervously, "Oh, right." He looked at the Viridian Gym Leader and scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "I guess I got caught up in the excitement."

"Yeah! It was crazy!" Daisy said happily before her smile saddened, 'Though, I guess Violet and Lily weren't kidding about Vaporeon being too shy to battle. I really would've liked to see it in action.'

Sabrina perked up and looked at the blond blankly.

Erika smiled happily, "It was a sight to see. I almost wish we could've seen the rest of his Pokémon in action."

Blaine smiled, "Still, an actual ten-on-ten Battle … that was something to see."

Koga smiled, "Oh, we're not done just yet."

Erika looked at him in surprise, "Huh?"

"So … you call the act of switching your moves … Multifaker…" Giovanni said.

Everyone looked back at the screen.

Haunter's eyes widened, "…huh?"

Soot nodded and had on a stoic expression, "That's right. We put a term to it to tell it apart from learning a move by more common means." She grinned, "Also, for fun."

Giovanni sweat dropped, "Rather bold of you to treat such a powerful technique so casually."

Soot snickered, "It's not as powerful as you think. Multifaker takes a ton of practice and requires one Yvel of a memory to do at all. Plus, it requires too much concentration to do during a battle." She smiled, "To be honest, I only faked Shadow Ball to Hidden Power and Sucker Punch to Shadow Claw. We played it safe and replaced Fire Fang and Play Rough with Ice Fang and Hyper Voice a few days before we first came here." She deadpanned and raised a paw, "And, no, I can't break the four-move limit. I've been asked that before."

Misty glared sourly and mumbled something.

"For anyone wondering, she said 'It was an honest question.'" Giovanni relayed.

Soot snickered again, "The other conditions are that I can only fake-in moves I've known before, and that repetition is necessary for the mental version. I have to switch my moves back and forth pretty often, so I don't get rusty."

Misty perked up and looked at her in surprise, "Wait, you do?"

Soot looked back at her, "Well yeah. Haven't you ever noticed that I almost never participate in move training?"

Brock stared in surprise, "… I kinda thought you were just content with your move set."

Soot grinned, "Nope. Multifaker practice."

Haunter was slack jawed, 'Marionetter… Multifaker… They- they're named after-' Sabrina looked at him in confusion.

"Ooooh." Blaine said before looking at Giovanni, "So that's what you meant about it not being easy."

Giovanni just nodded as Ash was rewarded his Earth Badge.

Joy had a hand to her chin, "Hm. Well, the restrictions as well as the effort and practice required does better justify this 'Multifaker'. It also sounds like other Pokémon could legitimately accomplish this feat."

Daisy pouted sourly and grumbled, "still seems unfair…"

Erika stared curiously, "Yeah but it sure doesn't sound easy. It almost seems like you'd have to raise the Pokémon like it's your own." She smiled, "Which really isn't a surprise when you think about it."

Flint smiled, "No kidding. You don't see that kind of connection that often."

Giovanni glanced at Flint and Erika curiously before looking down thoughtfully. He shook it off and looked at the screen. "There's one last thing."

Everyone glanced at him before looking at the screen again to see Misty, Brock, Ash, and the Pokémon walking towards the door.

Ash perked up and looked back at the Viridian Leader, "Oh, and" He smiled happily, "please tell Clay and Mr. Moore I said thanks for letting you use their Pokémon, today."

Almost everyone's eyes widened in shock.

Brock, Misty, Pikachu, Clefairy, Electra, and Togepi perked up and looked at him in confusion and Soot smirked without looking back. Ash just grinned and continued walking towards the door. His friends followed.

Surge looked at Sabrina while pointing at the screen but was cut off when she shouted, "He's not psychic!"

Blaine stared in shock, "So … how?"

Giovanni cracked a small smirk, "I can only imagine it's because some of their Pokémon and Nidoqueen disobeyed to an extent. The difference is that only Nidoqueen was reprimanded for it."

Daisy blinked in surprise, "Freakin' Yvel…"

Sabrina smiled, "Yeah. That kid never ceases to amaze. Sometimes, it's like he can do anything."

Haunter snickered and crossed his hands, "Give it a few years and he probably could."

Sabrina chuckled. Giovanni and Koga glanced at them for a moment before sharing a glance. Koga nodded.

.

*Three days later

'Time's up.' Mewtwo's voice rang out.

Everyone -except Ash- jerked and looked over as they levitated back to their feet. Pikachu translated for his trainer.

Ash glanced at them, 'On the dot…' He stood up and called out, "Soot! Time's up!"

Soot's ear twitched as she frowned in annoyance. She stood back up and glared across the field. Everyone at the table stood back up and hurried over to the side of the field to spectate. Pikachu and Clefairy ran up to stand on either side of Ash and Togepi was in Misty's arms.

Neesha noticed something and looked at Ash with a raised brow, "Did you change your gloves?"

Ash glanced at her. He had his red gloves on, "Yeah. Why?"

Neesha sweat dropped, "Well, didn't you say that your green ones give you-"

"It's starting." Misty said suddenly.

Soot walked out into the field and crouched into her fighting stance. Mewtwo hovered into the battlefield and moved into their fighting stance as well. The combatants glared.

Soot tensed up and gritted her teeth, 'Yeah. Definitely Pressure.' She shook it off.

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed, 'Intimidate.' 'I will allow you the first move.'

"You're first!" Clefairy called out to Soot.

Soot perked up and blinked in surprise, "Wait, really?" She eased out of her fighting stance and smiled happily, "Wow, thanks. That's so considerate of you."

Mewtwo perked up in confusion; legitimately caught off guard, 'Um … you're welcome, I suppo-' They were cut off by an explosion ringing out.

The Psychic-type's eyes widened when they suddenly found Soot already inches from them and throwing a Sucker Punch right at their face. Her gaze was vacant and showed no emotion.

Mewtwo grimaced and lurched their head to the side to narrowly avoid the punch. Soot shot past and Mewtwo quickly recovered, formed a pitch-black sphere with blue electricity crackling around it in their right hand, and turned to glare at their opponent. Their eyes widened in shock when they didn't see her.

Mewtwo looked around the field in alarm. But Soot was nowhere to be seen. They quickly looked at the spectators.

Brock, Misty, Pikachu, and Clefairy stared calmly. Togepi, Fergus, Neesha, and Dragonite stared in surprise. Corey and Joy stared in shock. Ash and Gary … were smirking.

Mewtwo looked around again, 'How- the seal polish should've prevented her from phasing-' They perked up when a purple light shined from below and glanced down.

Soot shot up from a purple portal on the ground -upside down- as she threw a side kick up towards Mewtwo's chin. The clone literally -and telekinetically- had to throw themself back to dodge.

Mewtwo stared at the Dark-type in shock, 'Phantom Force?!' They skidded back to a halt and fired the Shadow Ball at the canine.

Still upside down, Soot glanced at the attack, put her forepaws together over her head, and fired a chain of black rings with purple outlines to propel herself high into the air.

Mewtwo glared, 'Dark Pulse. Assuming the explosion before was Shadow Ball and that punch with Sucker Punch, that's four.' They formed a Shadow Ball in each hand and threw them both up at Soot.

Soot swung out a foreleg while firing another chain of Dark Pulse from it. The Dark-type attack swept out like an actual chain and detonated against the oncoming Ghost attack. A thick cloud of smoke formed and hid Soot.

Mewtwo perked up when a purple glow briefly shined from the cloud and started looking around. They flinched when an explosion went off and spun around to find a scorch mark on the ground. They then lurched forward and coughed in pain as something rammed into their back.

Mewtwo quickly looked back right before Soot's severed foreleg hit the ground. Corey, Neesha, and Joy stared blankly.

Fergus was pointing ahead while staring in shock; slack jawed, "Uh-"

"Made ya look." Soot whispered.

Mewtwo's eyes widened in shock. They glanced to the side just in time to take a roundhouse kick in the cheek and get launched across the field. Mewtwo tumbled along the ground briefly before skidding on their back and laying on the field.

The other clones stared in pure shock and everyone else -except Ash- grinned triumphantly. Ash smiled proudly. The Phantom Force portal on the ground closed and Soot fell back to all threes where it was.

She stared calmly, "This all ya got?" She sighed and started walking over to her foreleg, "Works for me." She picked up her leg in her mouth, reattached it, and then glared at Mewtwo as a large swarm of Shadow Balls appeared around her. "I'm just doing this to get my friends back."

A deep yet hoarse chuckle sounded out. And not a telepathic one. Everyone perked up and stared in surprise.

Mewtwo brought a hand up to touch their cheek, 'Well, this is a new experience.' Their hand fell back to their side, 'Perhaps I've grown rather complacent from easy battles.'

Fergus glared and gritted his teeth. Dragonite frowned in mild annoyance before perking up. Joy noticed and looked at him in surprise.

'I suppose it's time,' Mewtwo's entire body lurched off the ground and they moved upright. A small smirk was on their face, 'that I start putting in some effort.'

Without warning, Mewtwo shot towards Soot. She flinched and fired the Shadow Balls at them. Mewtwo didn't slow down and swerved through the spheres as they continued forward.

Soot stared in shock as Mewtwo stomped and threw a Drain Punch towards her face. She quickly composed herself and glared, 'Calm down!' She started bringing up a forepaw, 'Just parry with-'

"Let's see how you handle this."

The Bite Pokémon flinched and glanced over in shock. Dragonite was grinning at her with a distant look in his eyes. Ash and the Pokémon all looked at him in shock.

Mewtwo capitalized on the distraction by unclenching their fist and grabbing Soot by the throat and lifting her up. The canine yelped and tried to grab at the Psychic-type's hand. She flinched and grimaced as her energy was sapped away.

Ash grimaced and stared fearfully. Everyone else stared in shock.

Soot opened one eye to glare at Mewtwo, "Cheap … trick."

Mewtwo smirked.

"Was it now?" Dragonite asked, "You had no trouble attacking me while I was distracted."

Soot gritted her teeth, "What I did was a common fake-out tactic. Your using someone who isn't involved in this."

Mewtwo frowned. Joy's eyes widened in fearful realization.

The nurse started trying to shake her Dragon/Flying-type, "Dragonite! Dragonite! Snap out of it!"

Mewtwo looked at her as they and Dragonite said, 'Calm down. He's only acting as a mediat-" Mewtwo stopped, perked up, and quickly put their left hand out to catch a right hook-Sucker Punch aimed at their head. Soot's eyes widened in shock as they did.

'Hm.' Mewtwo looked at Soot with a sly smirk, "I suppose this is what they mean by 'learning from a mistake".' They pivoted and threw Soot across the field. The Dark-type glared at them before a purple portal appeared in her path. She disappeared into it, and it closed a second later.

Mewtwo started glancing around cautiously. Another portal appeared on the ground behind them, and Soot shot out with her hindleg raised and swung it down to deliver an axe kick.

Mewtwo lurched to the side and turned to face her. Soot's eyes widened and she glanced at them in alarm. The portal closed behind her.

'So it is space-to-surface-style." Mewtwo and Dragonite said.

"Tch." Soot detonated a few Shadow Balls to propel herself further away, righted herself and skidded back to a halt while facing Mewtwo. She then unleashed another swarm of Shadow Balls.

Mewtwo flared with light blue energy and held out a hand. Psystrike fired and crashed into the swarm; setting most of it off and forming a cloud of smoke.

A pair of Shadow Balls shot through the cloud and Mewtwo batted them away with Drain Punch. But they flinched when a Dark Pulse followed and held out the still-Drain-Punch armed hand to block.

Mewtwo skidded back to a halt. The smoke cleared to reveal Soot panting lightly and glaring as well. The Psychic-type then shot towards Soot with Drain Punch still active.

Soot gritted her teeth and lied down as the punch passed overhead. Her eyes shifted to their inherent state, and she detonated a series of Shadow Balls to throw herself into a handstand and aim a kick at Mewtwo's chest.

Mewtwo shot the claw a glance and threw themself back to dodge.

Still in the handstand, Soot broke into a leg sweep and unleashed a sweeping chain of Dark Pulse. Mewtwo gritted their teeth and fired a pair of Shadow Ball to intercept and cancel it. They shot forward with another Drain Punch.

Soot glared, 'Son of a-' A portal opened below her as she dropped down into it and vanished.

Mewtwo gritted their teeth and skidded to a halt. They looked around warily with Drain punch still at the ready.

.

*Phantom Force

Soot fell through the portal into a pitch-black void and landed to stand on the … void as the portal closed above her. She lied down and let out a long breath.

"Okay…" She muttered, "This'll be tougher than I thought."

She took a deep breath to calm herself and sat up, "Alright."

She closed her eyes, "Type: seemingly pure-Psychic. Ability: definitely Pressure. Move set: light-blue glow-style Psychic with an eye-glow tell, sparking-pitch-style Shadow Ball, green glow, full basic-style Drain Punch and …" She frowned uncomfortably, "Psystrike…" She groaned again, "The rare as Yvel Drain Punch wasn't enough, was it? They just had to have an undocumented move…"

She shook it off, "So that makes one special not-very-effective with a Special Def de-buff, one physical Super-Effective with a healing side, one ineffective that's still applicable, and one-" She frowned, "seemingly special… possibly ineffective…"

Soot gritted her teeth and shook her head rapidly, "Focus, glitch!" She took a deep breath again and looked down thoughtfully, "Even if that attack does have some kind of Miracle Eye-like effect, it just means they have a better ranged attack than Shadow Ball…" She sweat dropped, "maybe…"

Soot groaned, "Whatever." She cracked her neck, "Now that I have an idea of what they can do," Her eyes narrowed as an exit portal formed. She frowned while staring at it for a moment before sighing.

"I can get this over with."

.

*Stadium

Mewtwo was still looking around warily. They had already dispelled Drain Punch and Dragonite was now sitting on the ground while frowning uncomfortably with a claw to his head. Joy was staying close to him.

Neesha frowned worriedly, "What's taking Mighty- uh, Soot so long? Is she okay?"

Ash nodded; still looking ahead, "Yeah, don't worry. Soot knows what she's doing." He frowned, "And I think I do too."

Everyone else looked/glanced at him in confusion. They looked back at the field and some perked up in surprise.

Mewtwo noticed a glow out of the corner of their eye and looked to their left to find a Phantom Force portal on the stadium wall. The Psychic-type smirked, lit up their arms with Drain Punch again, and moved to face it before falling into their fighting stance.

Their smirk faded and their eyes widened when Soot's arm blasted out of the portal with its fist clenched from Sucker Punch. They grimaced and dodged to the left as the arm shot past. They glanced in the direction it was heading and their eyes widen when another Phantom Force portal appeared in its path and swallowed it.

'What the-' Mewtwo jerked when they noticed another portal to their left and lurched to the side again to dodge the Sucker Punch, 'how is she doing this?!'

Portals continued opening and closing around the arena with the flying Sucker Punch being fired and caught each time. Mewtwo continued dodging them frantically. But some managed to graze them every so often.

'What the Yvel is this?!' Mewtwo thought as they ducked under the arm once again, 'This level of precision shouldn't be possible from inside the attack!' They grunted as the Dark-type attack grazed their shoulder, 'She shouldn't be able to create them like this!' They perked up in realization, 'Unless-'

The arm shot towards their back once again. This time, Mewtwo spun to face the limb and fired a Shadow Ball at it, 'She memorized the arena's layout.' The arm shot back and spun through the air as it fell back to the ground.

Mewtwo grinned, 'There! Now she'll have to come back out hersel-'

Another portal opened where the limb was landing and swallowed it. Mewtwo's eyes widened in shock, 'But … how? She couldn't have predicted exactly how I'd-' They perked up when they noticed the glow of the portal behind them.

Sucker Punch blasted out of it. Mewtwo quickly pivoted to spin around and caught the limb with both hands.

Mewtwo smirked but immediately flinched and stared in shock as a Dark Pulse formed at the tip of the limb. Mewtwo grimaced and tossed the leg away. The charged Dark Pulse faded immediately, and the leg disappeared into another Phantom Force.

The Psychic-type stared at where the portal was in shock, 'How is this possible?! She shouldn't be able to do all of this from inside of Phantom For-' They perked up.

Another portal appeared and Mewtwo turned to face it. Their eyes widened when another portal appeared from behind them and glanced back at it.

A Dark Pulse and a pair of Shadow Balls fired at Mewtwo from either side. Mewtwo gritted their teeth, held their hands to either attack, and formed their own Shadow Ball in each hand. Their eyes widened yet again from a purple glow shining from below and glanced down.

Sucker Punch shot up and struck Mewtwo in the chin; making them dispel their Ghost-type attacks. Dark Pulse and Soot's Shadow Balls continued and crashed into Mewtwo; kicking up a thick cloud of dust. The arm fell back to the ground and disappeared into another portal.

The dust cleared to reveal Mewtwo sitting on their knees while panting heavily and staring at the ground; eyes shaded. They slowly and shakily started moving to stand back up only for Sucker Punch to shoot from the right and nail them in the side of the head.

"MA!" Mewtwo grunted as they fell to the side.

Pikachu and Clefairy shied away uncomfortably from the strike. Nearly everyone else tensed up and frowned. Charizardtwo, Blastoisetwo, and Venusaur gritted their teeth while glaring angrily.

"Woah." Corey stared in shock as Mewtwo struggled to get back up again, "This got … brutal."

"I kinda hate to agree." Neesha said anxiously, "I get what's at stake but … she's not even giving them a chance to stand up."

Fergus jerked and looked at them blankly. He glared and stomped; making the other two flinch, "Are you serious?! That thing stole all of our Pokémon! How the Yvel can you feel bad for seeing it get what it des-"

"Hey." Ash said as he held an arm in front of the guy in the tank top, "Lay off them." Fergus looked at him in surprise as he put his arm down and looked ahead as Mewtwo took a barrage of Shadow Balls to the back; covering them in a cloud of dust, "They're right."

Fergus jerked and stared at him in shock, "What?!"

Neesha and Corey looked at Ash blankly, "What?"

"I'm serious." Ash said; still looking ahead, "What Soot's doing is whittling them down from the safety of a semi-invulnerable move with no known weakness. It's an incredibly underhanded tactic meant for nothing but securing the win." He frowned, "And believe me when I say that Soot isn't enjoying this in the slightest."

Brock, Misty, Pikachu, Clefairy, and Togepi glanced at Ash somberly, Gary frowned, and Joy, Corey, and Neesha looked at him in surprise. Fergus's eyes narrowed.

"Soot doesn't like one-sided or easy battles." Ash continued, "And she hates this tactic even more. She'd rather battle Mewtwo on equal footing, but she can't risk doing that because of what's at stake." He took a deep breath ending in a sigh, "That is how dire this situation actually is."

Fergus just glared before groaning and putting his hands in his pockets, "Whatever." He looked ahead as a small smirk appeared on his face.

Ash glanced at him. He noticed something, looked up, and his eyes narrowed, "Though, luckily, it looks like she's about to get this over with."

Everyone perked up in surprise and followed his gaze. Their eyes all widened.

.

*Soot

The Dark-type stared down at her opponent while panting lightly. From what she could make out, it looked like they were panting heavily while on their hands and knees.

She took a deep breath, "Alright."

Her foreleg shot back out of the entrance portal next to her. She grabbed it with her mouth and reattached it before glaring down at her opponent from her spot at the top of the stadium's floodlight.

Her eyes shifted to their inherent state as she leapt up to her hindlegs and spread out her forepaws. A swarm of Shadow Balls burst into existence around her.

Soot raised a claw, "Game" and pointed it downward, "Set." The attacks shot towards Mewtwo.

The Ghost-type attacks fell into the center of the stadium at an alarming rate. The starter clones noticed and looked at them in shock. As did almost all of the other spectators.

Mewtwo took a long, drawn-out breath. Their eyes shot open as a massive swarm of light blue energy spheres appeared around them.

Ash's eyes widened in pure shock as Hidden Power shot past the Shadow Balls and flew up towards Soot.

Soot's eyes widened as the attack approached and swung out an arm while firing Dark Pulse. The chain of the Dark-type attack crashed into the swarm and set each other off.

Soot crossed her arms over her face to shield herself from the forming cloud of smoke. A loud explosion erupted from below.

She moved her arms away to stare ahead in shock, "H- how-"

Mewtwo burst through the smoke directly in front of Soot with a light blue outline surrounding them and Drain Punch at the ready. The Bite Pokémon could only stare in shock as Mewtwo grabbed her by her left arm and did a quick spin to throw her into the arena.

Soot gritted her teeth as she plummeted and opened one eye to glance back, 'Too fast to make it clean!'

Her eye narrowed and another Phantom Force portal appeared in her path. She fell through the hole in the air, into the black void, and right out of another portal on the 'ground' that spat her out of the stadium wall. She tumbled across the ground for a moment and skidded to a halt on her side.

Soot panted heavily while laying on her side; eyes closed. The Gym Leaders, the professor's grandson, and the Pokémon with them all stared in disbelief. Corey, Neesha, and Joy flinched and looked at her worriedly. The other clones grinned triumphantly.

Ash stared in pure shock, "Soot?"

Mewtwo just stared down at Soot stoically and began descending back to the ground. They touched down on the opposite side of the field and stared at her calmly. They glanced around warily once before looking at her again and smirking.

"Impressive." Dragonite said. He moved his claw away from his head and stared ahead with a distant look in his eyes. Joy perked up and looked at him in surprise before her eyes widened fearfully.

Ash flinched and looked back at him in shock, 'He's still-'

"I've never been in a battle where I was pushed so far." Dragonite continued, "I only wish the ending could have been more … satisfying."

Soot just continued panting while glancing at the Psychic-type, "I- I don't…" She stuttered hoarsely, "you're last … move is … is Psychic."

Mewtwo frowned.

"Is that what you believed?" Dragonite continued as Mewtwo crossed an arm over their chest. "I'm afraid you were mistaken." They swung their arm out as another swarm of Hidden Power appeared around them. "I don't know any telekinetic moves." Mewtwo gestured ahead and the non-Normal attack shot towards Soot.

Soot could only stare tiredly as the attack approached. But before it could connect, a figure ran in front of her and held their hands out towards the attack. Panicked shouting came from the sidelines.

A giant plume of fire erupted outward and crashed into the Hidden Power head on; setting them all off and engulfing Soot and the figure in a giant cloud of smoke.

Mewtwo stared in pure shock, '…what?'

Fergus stared blankly, "uh…"

"Wha-" Corey stuttered, "What just- Has he been hiding a litwick this whole time?"

Gary sweat dropped, "Not a bad guess." He sighed in annoyance, "But no. Also, I see he upgraded the firepower on those things."

Brock sweat dropped and smiled sheepishly, "yeah…"

Neesha flinched and looked at them in alarm, "What?! What are you talking about?!"

Misty glanced at her with a smirk, "Let's just say this is why he changed gloves."

The three trainers and Joy looked at her in surprise before looking ahead again as the smoke began clearing. Mewtwo stared in pure shock when they found Ash standing in front of Soot defensively with his palms pointed ahead. A few small flames were still on his hands.

Soot let out a weak chuckle, "Nice timing." She frowned, "That was a big blast. How much did you burn off?"

Ash swung his hands back down to blow out the remaining flames, "Not a lot." He glanced back at her with a small smile, "I think our trip to Cinnabar helped."

Soot stared intently before cracking a small smirk, "I'm shocked. You didn't lie, for once." She glanced across the field and grimaced, "Dad."

Ash jerked and turned to find Mewtwo's pokéball flying in his direction. Ash glared furiously, brought out his remaining right claws, and slashed the pokéball to metal scraps.

Gary's eyes widened in shock, 'What the Yvel?! '

Corey stared in surprise, 'Those gloves can do that too?'

Mewtwo perked up in mild surprise before returning to their stoic expression.

"That's a rather harsh look." Dragonite said; making the Ketchums jerk and glance at him. Everyone else who heard the telepathic side jerked and looked at Mewtwo. "I'm just following through with the deal. Your interference obviously means you forfeit."

Ash's eyes narrowed, "I don't care." He growled as he crouched down defensively, "You are not taking her." He whispered, "Stamina?"

Soot frowned and whispered back, "Struggle." Ash's eyes narrowed; still glaring at Mewtwo.

Mewtwo stared calmly before sighing. "In other words, that entire battle was pointless." They raised a hand as the swarm of black pokéballs appeared again.

Corey and Neesha grimaced and hastily grabbed Shellshocker, Bruteroot, and Hitmonlee's pokéballs from their belts. Brock and Misty grabbed Onix, Zubat, Seadra, and Staryu's pokéballs and Gary snapped out of it before grabbing Blastoise and Scizor's. Togepi hugged Misty's leg tighter. Joy looked at the trainers anxiously and Fergus glared ahead.

The Gym Leaders reached into their pockets, and each pulled out a pokéball. Pikachu and Clefairy noticed and shared a look before smiling somberly.

Brock aimed a pokéball with a lightning bolt symbol on the top and Misty aimed a regular one, "Return!"

The beams shot out and absorbed the Mouse and Fairy Pokémon. The invitees stared in surprise and Gary glanced over.

The Oak boy smirked and looked back at Ash, 'Typical.'

Mewtwo noticed the spectators actions and their eyes narrowed, 'tch.' They gestured ahead and the pokéballs flew off.

Ash grimaced fearfully. He quickly grabbed the occupied pokéballs from his belt and turned to scoop Soot up. He broke into a mad dash while carrying his hatchling on her back. Most of the pokéballs tailed them. A few harassed the trainers.

Soot looked up at her father tiredly before glancing at everyone else as they fought to protect the few Pokémon they still had. She then looked around Ash at the oncoming swarm of pokéballs.

Soot's eyes narrowed, 'There's still something.' She looked up at Ash, "Dad. I have an idea."

Ash glanced down at her.

Soot grunted and brought her right foreleg up to rest on her chest, "We need to get all of the pokéballs in here."

Ash's eyes widened, "What?"

The Dark-type nodded, "If they're all in here, they'll be safe from Mewtwo's telekinesis and their pokéballs. You know my arm can't go into a pokéball unless it's attached. I can take it off and you can return me afterwards."

Ash grimaced, "B- but then, all of them will just target-"

"Most of them already are." Soot said; cutting him off, "Difference is, I'm a bigger target outside my pokéball." She smirked, "Besides, all you'll have to do is guard one pokéball. Think you can handle that?"

Ash's eyes widened before he smiled determinedly, "Easy." He turned and started running towards the others.

"Guys!" Ash shouted; catching everyone else's attention.

Soot glanced at them and held out her right foreleg. Ash held his pokéballs in one hand before hurriedly placing his hand on her leg. He held his hand back up; showing it was empty.

Misty and Brock perked up in realization and Misty quickly kneeled down to pick up Togepi.

Gary grinned and looked back at Corey and Neesha, "Follow our lead!"

He and the Gym Leaders ran towards Ash. Soaren and Sweets stared in surprise before following them. Fergus and Joy stared in confusion.

Everyone met up and Ash quickly placed Soot on the ground, "Hurry and get them in!" Corey and Neesha looked at him in confusion as he started reaching back, "After that, I'll-"

"Behind you!" Soot blurted out.

Ash's eyes widened before he quickly turned and slashed a pokéball in two.

"Dad, focus on defense!" Soot said quickly, "This'll all be wasted effort if I'm caught!"

Ash moved into a fighting stance, "Got it! Just act fast!" He slashed at another five trying to slip past him.

Corey looked around frantically, "Finish what?! What the Yvel are you all talking abou-"

"This!" Gary shouted at him before dropping Blastoise and Scizor's pokéballs over Soot's outstretched foreleg.

Corey and Neesha's eyes widened as both pokéballs disappeared into the leg. Gary forcefully gestured to the Dark-type as Brock hurriedly placed Onix, Zubat, and Pikachu's pokéballs in the appendage.

The girl pointed, "How-"

Misty pointed at her, "Not now! Just put your pokéballs in the mightyena leg!" She slammed Goldeen, Staryu, Seadra, and Clefairy's pokéballs into the appendage.

Corey and Neesha shared a look before deciding to give up questioning things and followed the Water trainer's example. Gary then knelt down, unzipped Soot's foreleg from her shoulder, and yanked it off.

Neesha flinched and stared in shock as he did so, "Woah!"

Gary looked at her; deadpanned, "Oh please."

Neesha stared at him blankly, "Well excuse me for flinching at seeing someone do that."

Ash glanced back and smiled, "Good." He reached back and pulled a pokéball from his belt, "Now-" The sound of metal scraping sounded out.

Ash's smile faded and his eyes widened in shock as red, purple, and black metal shards shot past him and clattered on the ground. Soot and everyone around her stared at him in pure shock.

The trainer slowly and shakily turned to look at his hand. The lower half of Soot's pokéball sat on his palm with a few red shards sitting in the remains of the chamber. Had he glanced back, he would've found Mewtwo smirking and putting their hand back down.

"dad?"

Ash looked at his hatchling in pure shock. Soot stared back in disbelief.

"I-" Ash muttered.

Suddenly, Brock, Misty, Togepi, Gary, Corey, and Neesha took on a light blue outline and a swarm of pokéball shards hooked onto Ash's clothing. Everyone was swept off their feet and flew back.

Ash and Soot just stared at each other in shock as the distance grew. They both grimaced when they saw six of Mewtwo's pokéballs fly past Ash and towards Soot.

Ash could do nothing but stare in shock as one of the cages made contact with Soot.

The wild mightyena held out her remaining claw and desperately screamed, "DA-" As she vanished into the pokéball.

Everyone crashed to their backs. All but Togepi who Misty held tightly, and Ash who managed to regain his footing and skid back to a halt.

He immediately lunged at the black pokéballs while reaching out, "SOOT!" The pokéballs teleported away before he even got close, and Ash crashed to the ground where she was.

Everyone around him managed to sit up and stare at him in shock. Joy stared in shock with a hand over her mouth, Fergus just looked ahead in surprise, and Dragonite was smirking with Mewtwo.

"Soot?" Ash muttered as he ran his hand across the ground where his daughter was, "Soot…" He started trembling again as a tear fell to the ground.

Brock, Misty, and Togepi stared in pure shock. Corey and Neesha looked at him in sympathetic worry. Gary just stared at the boy in fearful shock. Though he still kept hold of Soot's leg.

Mewtwo stared calmly before turning their attention to the detached limb, 'I suppose this is as far as I take this.' They closed their eyes, 'Very well.' They opened their eyes and looked at the guests, 'Once the cloning process-' They didn't even have time for their eyes to widen as a fist drilled into their gut.

The Psychic-type could only cough as the attacker followed through and hurled them back into the stadium's wall.

Charizardtwo, Blastoisetwo, and Venusaurtwo stared ahead in shock before jerking to look back at Mewtwo as they slid down the wall and sat against it. Mewtwo coughed hoarsely and stared downward in a daze. Everyone else just stared in shock.

"…huh?" Neesha muttered aimlessly.

No one noticed as Dragonite flinched and looked around frantically. Nor did they notice the storm grow quieter.

Ash let out a breath as his left arm dropped beside him. He just looked down with his eyes shaded over.

Charizardtwo let out a furious roar, kicked off, and flew towards Ash. Blastoisetwo and Venusaurtwo ran over to Mewtwo.

Charizardtwo skidded to a halt and unleashed a Flamethrower at the boy. Ash just stared at the approaching attack -eyes still shaded- before sidestepping to dodge and kicking off to charge at the Fire/Flying-type.

The charizard's eyes widened in shock before he canceled Flamethrower and threw Thunder Punch at the approaching Ketchum. Ash stopped in his tracks and caught the fist as the surge of electricity flooded into him.

Charizardtwo's eyes widened even further as he saw the human literally absorb his attack. Ash looked up at them coldly. Charizardtwo grimaced fearfully and hastily cut off Thunder Punch, formed Dragon Claw in his other claw, and swung it at Ash.

Ash ducked under the attack, retracted his claws, and literally tore off his left glove. He jumped back up, shoved the remains into the Pokémon's mouth, and delivered a knee to his jaw; forcing him to bite down on what was left of the glove with a squish sounding out.

The charizard's eyes widened in shock before stumbling back while shaking his head in disgust and spitting out the destroyed glove. He shook it off and glared at Ash as the boy landed with electricity crackling hazardously across his body.

Charizardtwo opened his mouth as an inferno formed. An explosion erupted from the Flame Pokémon and a cloud of smoke engulfed his head. The charizard fell back out of the cloud and crashed to their back; eyes swirling.

Ash just stared uncaringly before looking down at his hands, reaching into his back pocket, and pulling out and slipping on his left yellow glove. He put his hands together and the sparks slowly faded from view.

"Wha-" Corey muttered in pure shock, "What just- What did he-"

"Later." Brock said as he stood back up; catching the others' attention. He looked at everyone else sternly, "Right now, we need to give Ash some space."

Gary stared at the breeder blankly before looking at Misty.

Misty noticed and stood back up; expression calm, "Brock's right." She turned and ran towards the table, "Move it!" Brock hurried after her.

Corey and Neesha didn't question it, scrambled back to their feet, and ran after the Gym Leaders. Gary got back to his feet and looked over at Ash for a moment. He then turned and ran after the others.

The Shellfish and Seed Pokémon stared at the unconscious Flame Pokémon in shock. The former was kneeling and had the half-awake mewtwo's arm slung across his back.

Venusaurtwo glared at Blastoisetwo, "Saur! Venusaur!"

Blastoisetwo looked at him in surprise and then nodded while glaring determinedly. He put Mewtwo down and ran towards Ash. Venusaurtwo watched anxiously before shaking it off, bringing out a vine and placing it into Mewtwo's hand. The Psychic-type jerked slightly as he did so.

The Grass/Poison-type smiled before saying, "Saur vena." He tensed up slightly before closing his eyes as his leaves took on a green glow.

The Water-type jumped, retracted into his shell, and skidded along the ground as he Rapid Spun towards Ash. The trainer shot darting glances around the battlefield before breaking into a sprint towards the metal doors behind the challenging trainer area.

The blastoise banked and followed him. They slowly closed in on the trainer.

Ash reached the door, stepped up to one of the decorative rims, and kicked off to backflip over the spinning Water-type. But rather than crash into the door, Blastoisetwo popped out of his shell last minute in a position to kick off the door and towards the still free-falling Ash. As he approached, a glowing blue sword extended from his hand, and he slashed at Ash.

Ash's eyes narrowed, 'Blade-style Liquidation.' He brought out his claws again and slashed at the Water attack; shattering it effortlessly.

Blastoisetwo stared at the boy in pure shock through the disappearing shards of his attack. Ash retracted his claws again and grabbed the rim of the Shellfish Pokémon's shell to swing around and get onto his back. He then held up his right hand before a fiery explosion erupted from it.

"Gah!" Blastoisetwo cried out as he was driven into the ground. Ash leapt off them right after and walked around to get in front of him.

The Water-type glared at the trainer and slowly started pushing himself up. He stopped and flinched when Ash grabbed his head with his right hand and looked at the boy in shock.

Ash just stared back coldly, brought up his left hand, and clenched it into a fist.

"BLAAAAS!" Blastoisetwo screamed as electricity relentlessly poured into him.

Mewtwo flinched and their eyes snapped open from the cry. They looked ahead and their eyes widened in shock at seeing Charizardtwo unconscious on the ground and Blastoisetwo being tazed by Ash. The trainer stopped about a second later and pulled his hand back. Blastoisetwo laid on the ground; charred and with his eyes swirling.

'What?' Mewtwo jerked when they felt something in their hand and looked down to find themselves using Drain Punch as a vine sat between their fingers. Their eyes widened again as they followed the vine to find Venusaurtwo standing a few feet in front of them defensively with Synthesis active.

Mewtwo canceled their attack, threw the vine away, and jumped back to their feet, 'Venusaurtwo! What are you doing?!'

Venusaurtwo looked back at them and smiled tiredly before glaring at Ash again. Mewtwo's eyes widened.

Venusaur stomped and let out a battle cry as the energy spheres from Leaf Storm appeared on either side of him. The swarms of leaves shot out and spiraled together into a cyclone as they flew towards Ash.

The trainer looked over the attack intently and his glare softened. He held his right hand to the side before an explosion erupted from his palm and propelled him out of the attack's path.

Ash skidded to a halt, clenched his left hand again as electricity crackled over him, and pointed two fingers at Venusaurtwo. A bolt of electricity shot from the boy's fingertips and nailed the Grass/Poison-type in the head.

Venusaurtwo gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as the electricity coursed through him. He smirked and opened his eyes to glare mockingly only to flinch and have his eyes widened in shock when he found Ash right in front of him with a leg raised over his head.

Ash stared calmly as he dropped an axe kick onto the Seed Pokémon's head.

"Sa-" Venusaurtwo coughed before his legs fell out from beneath him and he laid on his stomach; eyes swirling.

Ash stared down at Venusaurtwo for a moment before looking ahead at Mewtwo to find them staring at him in pure shock.

'What? He just- But … that shouldn't be-'

Ash's eyes narrowed before he turned and ran towards the closest lamp in the dining area. He ignored the shocked looks from Joy, Dragonite, Corey, Neesha, Fergus, and Gary.

'He- he wasn't actually supposed to be-'

Ash knelt down in front of the lamp, brought out his claws again and jabbed the lamp as electricity flowed into him. The fixture flickered and the light slowly died out.

'No.' Mewtwo's eyes lit up light blue as they took on a matching outline, 'I have to be certain.'

Ash pulled back and put his hands together to store the electricity. He grabbed the base of the broken light fixture and started pulling.

Ash gritted his teeth as he pulled when-

"ASH!" Misty screamed.

Ash's eyes widened and he glanced back to find Mewtwo lunging at him with Drain Punch at the ready.

Ash grabbed the side of the lamp and used it to throw himself to the side; causing Mewtwo to punch the ground. Ash managed to recover from the self-toss and skidded back on his feet and one of his hands.

Mewtwo stood back up, brought up their hands as they lit up light blue, and clenched both into fists before bringing them down forcefully. The sound of metal crunching and glass shattering erupted from all around the room.

Ash tensed up and shot darting glances around the area. All of the lamps except the one behind Mewtwo were now flattened with their remains tightly clogging the tunnels that each one hid.

Ash grimaced, 'Crag!' He glared at Mewtwo.

Mewtwo glared back, 'And even if he is,'

Everyone else jumped as the lamp behind Mewtwo was suddenly hurled into the air as a light orange blur flew out of the tunnel.

The dragonite that appeared landed with a stomp and let out a ferocious roar.

Nurse Joy and her dragonite stared in shock. Togepi tensed up and frowned uncomfortably from the outcry. Misty tightened her grip on him defensively.

Corey stared blankly, "Neesha … does that dragonite look familiar to you?"

Neesha looked at him in surprise before looking at the new dragonite. Her eyes widened in shock before she quickly turned to look at the nurse's dragonite. She stared in shock before looking at the new one again, "Y- yeah… just like…" She trailed off.

Misty glared apprehensively, "Then that's"

Brock frowned, "Dragonitetwo."

Fergus stared fearfully and took a step back, "So, all that cloning crag really was true?!"

Ash stared at the Dragon/Flying-type in surprise. Compared to Nurse Joy's dragonite, he was almost completely identical. The only real difference was a cream-colored splotch on the backs of his foreclaws and on his knees; the same color as the underbelly.

'Woah.' Ash stood back up and glanced out into the battlefield, 'So this is how much they improved after one attempt…'

Dragonitetwo perked up in confusion before following Ash's gaze. His eyes widened in shock at seeing the other clones lying unconscious on the ground.

Still looking at Ash, Mewtwo raised a hand, 'it changes nothing!' They forcefully brought their hand back down. The airborne lamp plummeted and the heap of scrap it became plugged the tunnel.

Dragonitetwo snapped out of it and glanced back at Mewtwo. Mewtwo noticed and looked at him before glaring at Ash again. The cloned Dragon Pokémon's eyes widened before he turned to look at Ash in shock. He gritted his teeth angrily.

"DRAAA!" Dragonitetwo cried out. A breeze started blowing from behind him.

Ash's eyes narrowed, 'Tailwind.' He glanced down at the watch, 'Assuming his moves got copied like when I scan something,' He looked ahead, 'that makes-' His eyes widened before he dropped to his knees and leaned back to dodge the ice block covered dragonite paw aimed right at his face, 'FOUR!'

Ash clenched his right hand as it became engulfed in flames and delivered a quick jab to Dragonitetwo's gut. The Dragon Pokémon winced in pain before putting on a cocky smirk. He clenched a fist as it became encased in another ice block.

Ash grimaced and held his right hand to the side and let off an explosion to shoot out of the way of another Ice Punch dropping down on him. Though he failed to catch his footing this time and skidded on his side.

Gary, Brock, Misty, and Togepi flinched at the sight. Everyone else stared fearfully.

Ash panted lightly and shakily started pushing himself back up, 'Crag.' He glanced at his right hand, 'It's starting to catch up.' He flinched when he heard an eruption of energy and looked to find a dragon-shaped surge of green flames flying towards him.

Ash clenched his left hand and held out two fingers towards the Dragon Pulse before firing a bolt of electricity at it. The attacks collided in front of Ash and exploded against each other; forming a cloud of smoke around the trainer.

Still panting, Ash managed to get back to his feet. But right as he did, another Dragon Pulse tore through the smoke on a collision course with him. Ash grimaced and unleashed another plume of flames to intercept the attack.

Unfortunately, the attack got too close, and the force threw Ash back into the wall.

"Gah!" Ash grunted as he slid down the wall. He panted heavily as he laid against the wall with his head down. He started struggling to stand back up; using the wall as leverage. Everyone could only stare in shock.

Mewtwo's glare softened, 'I suppose it was too farfetched.' A telepathic sigh rang out, 'Dragonitetwo, warning shot Dragon Pulse. Just knock him out against the wall.'

Everyone who heard them flinched and looked at the Psychic-type in shock. Dragonitetwo's eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth as a green fireball formed.

Still panting, Ash flinched and looked ahead as the dragonite unleashed his attack. Ash just watched as the flames approached before he gritted his teeth in frustration and clenched his left hand. A small surge of electricity traveled down Ash's right arm.

The watch sprang up on its own, spun rapidly, and shot back down right as the attack struck.

Brock, Misty, and Togepi flinched when a green flash shined out and Ash became shrouded in smoke. Gary noticed and glanced at the Gym Leaders in surprise. Mewtwo perked up in surprise.

A loud shriek sounded out and a beam of purple hearts flew out of the smoke cloud and crashed into Dragonitetwo.

"Dra!" Dragonitetwo cried out as the Disarming Voice tossed him back. He skidded to a halt and looked ahead in shock.

Brock and Misty stared blankly and Togepi frowned worriedly. Everyone else stared in shock. A clefairy walked out of the smoke and glared ahead.

'It … is true…' A smirk crawled onto Mewtwo's face.

"He really was hiding another Pokémon?!" Corey blurted out.

"Eleven Pokémon? Seriously?" Fergus grumbled.

"Wait a second." Neesha said in a daze, "That clefairy…" She looked at the mightyena leg in Gary's arms, "He looks identical to…" She trailed off, shook her head, and looked at the Fairy Pokémon in confusion, "But- How-" She flinched and her eyes widened when the cloud faded completely; revealing nothing where Ash was.

Gary, Joy, Dragonite, and Corey's eyes widened as well.

"Wh-" Joy stuttered fearfully, "Where did he go?"

Fergus perked up in realization, looked at her, and looked ahead in shock.

"Ash is fine." Brock said monotonously; making everyone except Misty and Togepi flinch and look at him in shock. He sighed, "Be patient for now. He'll explain once this is over."

Gary stared at him in pure shock, "What the Yvel are you talking about?"

The Fairy-type took a deep breath ending in a sigh, "Alright, then."

Dragonite and Dragonitetwo's eyes widened, "Wha-"

The new Pokémon slapped the green symbol on its stomach and a green flash erupted from him. Almost everyone stared in shock as the light faded to reveal a rapidash in the clefairy's place.

The Fire Horse Pokémon pointed their horn ahead and burst into a Flame Charge as they shot towards Dragonitetwo. Dragonitetwo perked up and glared as electricity covered him.

The rapidash nudged their head down slightly as green light shrouded them.

Ash skidded to a halt and placed a hand on the Dragon/Flying-type's chest as Thunderbolt was unleashed. Everyone out of the loop stared in pure shock. All but Mewtwo.

Ash paid the shocked Dragon Pokémon shocking him no mind and just brought up the watch to stare at for a moment. He then clapped his hands together, pressed the button on the side of the watch, ran the edge of the dial across his arm, and reeled his left hand back before slamming the device down against his thigh.

*flash*

Dragonitetwo's eyes widened, and he looked down to find a pikachu with a white outline throwing a fast punch forward as his other paw moved towards the green symbol on his stomach. But it was obvious that 'attack' wouldn't be able to connect.

Ash tapped the watch's symbol.

*flash*

The adult kangaskhan drove a high-speed Drain Punch into Dragonitetwo's face and hurled him off his feet and back.

The Dragon Pokémon just stared into the sky aimlessly, '…huh?'

Ash started falling forward and Ash moved his head to the side and reached back to slap the symbol on his larger self's stomach.

*flash*

The pikachu landed on all fours and burst ahead with Agility. He shot past Dragonitetwo, flipped onto his back, and reeled back both arms as his opponent approached over him.

Ash threw both paws upward and his tail swung around to hit the watch's symbol.

*flash*

"DRA!" Dragonitetwo cried out as the kangaskhan's double Drain Punch drove into his back and hurled him upward.

*flash*

Dragonitetwo gritted his teeth and spread his wings to right himself and spin around to face his opponent. His eyes widened when he found Ash was nowhere to be seen. He started looking around frantically.

"Hey." Came a whisper from behind.

Dragonitetwo's eyes widened, and he quickly spun around again to find a banette hovering directly in front of his face with his arms spread.

Ash's eyes widened as a blinding yellow light shined from him.

"DRAAA!" Dragonitetwo covered his eyes and cried out in pain as Dazzling Gleam tore away from him at point blank.

*flash*

The Dragon Pokémon jerked when the attack stopped and opened one eye only to take another double Drain Punch to the gut. Though, this time, it was backed by over a hundred and fifty pounds of Normal-type.

"dra!" Dragonitetwo coughed as he and Ash plummeted towards the earth. They crash landed in the middle of the battlefield and kicked up a massive dust cloud around them.

Ash jumped out the side of the cloud and held out a claw as his smaller self-landed in his palm. Ash placed Ash on his shoulder. The adult held out and clenched his claws as the green sphere covered them once again, and the infant's claw hovered over the watch's symbol.

The pair perked up as a bolt of lightning shot from the cloud. The infant hit the symbol right before the nidoking took the Thunderbolt head on. Ash shook his head rapidly as his thoughts collected and he looked ahead calmly.

The dust faded to reveal Dragonitetwo lying on his back and panting heavily with a claw outstretched to the Drill Pokémon. He gritted his teeth in frustration before going limp as his eyes became swirls.

Ash stared calmly, hit the symbol on his stomach, and lit up green. The light faded and Ash reemerged in human form.

All but four of the spectators stared in unimaginable shock at the … everything that just unfolded. Brock, Misty, and Togepi stared in mild surprise and Mewtwo just watched.

"I-" Corey stuttered, "what just- h-h-how…"

"He's…" Fergus followed, "a- a ditto?"

Joy shook her head slowly, "I have never seen a ditto battle like that."

Neesha blinked, 'Was that Lara Laramie's rapidash a second ago?'

"You two." Gary turned to look at Brock and Misty; wide eyed, "What the Yvel is this?"

Misty perked up and glanced at him. She looked at Ash again, "Didn't Brock say Ash would explain-" Her eyes widened, and she shouted, "Hidden Power!"

Ash flinched and looked over to find the light blue spheres flying towards him. He grimaced, brought up and slapped down the watch to emerge in pikachu form, and unleashed a Thunderbolt into the swarm. Most of them went off instantly but one slipped through.

Ash held out a paw to the sphere, 'Please not Ground!' The attack struck and exploded against the open paw. Ash gritted his teeth and shook his paw, 'Fairy?! How many rare moves do they have?!' He glared at Mewtwo but he and everyone else jerked as the hoarse, uneven chuckle sounded out.

'Unbelievable. I thought those four were merely fools grasping at straws.'

Everyone perked up.

Ash blinked in surprise, 'So that's what they sound li-' He stopped and flinched as his eyes widened, 'Wait, what did they just say?!'

His friends' eyes widened in fearful realization.

Mewtwo put a hand on their forehead, 'I never even imagined such a theory could be true.' Their grin widened, 'That my prototype would have the audacity to hide in plain sight.'

Ash's eyes widened fearfully. Brock, Misty, and Togepi flinched and grimaced. Everyone out of the loop stared in either shock or confusion.

Gary's eyes widened in shock, "W- wait … what?" He looked at the pikachu Ash turned into in shock. His eyes widened in realization, "…seriously?"

Mewtwo took a deep breath to compose themself, put their arm back down, and looked at Ash with a small smirk, 'I fully expected such a theory to be proven wrong.' They glanced back at the fallen Charizardtwo, Blastoisetwo, and Venusaurtwo and placed a hand on their abdomen where Ash hit them, 'But then I started seeing proof.' Their attention then went to Dragonitetwo, 'To the point that I could no longer deny it.'

Mewtwo grinned excitedly and crossed their arms over their chest as their body became shrouded in light blue energy, 'What a fool I was!' They threw their arms out.

Ash perked up in surprise as the Flame, Shellfish, Seed, and Dragon clones vanished on the spot. He started looking around for them when-

"Woah!/AH!" Came a series of cries from the dining area.

Ash flinched and looked back to see everyone else floating in the air with a light blue outline around them. He glared furiously and was about to pounce but stopped and stared in surprise as everyone was set back down just a few feet back from where they were.

The stain glass reappeared from the sides and slammed back together; blocking off the dining area. All of the color faded to reveal everyone in the area looking ahead in shock.

Ash glared again and hit the watch's symbol to switch to his banette form. He was about to kick off when-

'Don't bother.' Ash flinched and looked back at Mewtwo again, 'Much like the arena, that glass is coated in seal polish.'

"tch." Ash turned to face the Psychic-type and glared coldly, "What do you want?"

Mewtwo smirked slyly, 'After everything, you still feel the need to-'

"ENOUGH/BANETTE!" Ash shouted.

Everyone in the area flinched from the outburst. Mewtwo stared in surprise. Togepi frowned frightenedly and started shivering. Misty jerked and started trying to comfort him.

The Ghost-type glared at the Psychic-type furiously and pointed, "I'm tired of-" He tensed up when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye and glanced at the Spike Ball Pokémon. He frowned when Togepi looked back at him anxiously and then sighed.

He glared at Mewtwo and spoke harshly, "I get it, alright? You ran into those four from Team Rocket, learned about their theory that I'm the Phantom, and probably wiped their memories of the encounter. And the fact that you keep referring to Mew as your 'prototype' has me guessing that you're not exactly a fan." His glare harshened, "I may have played along before, but here is why I'm done beating around the bush."

He held up a finger, "You kidnapped my teammates." He held up a second, "You kidnapped my daughter" A third went up with the volume of his voice, "and destroyed her pokéball." He pointed at the window without looking, "And now you've locked up my friends. I'm. Done." He glared furiously, "Just tell me whatever the Yvel it is you want already."

Silence fell and a distant roar of thunder sounded around the building.

Dragonite blinked, "woah…"

Brock and Misty stared in surprise before sharing a look. Togepi wasn't shivering anymore, but still frowned nervously.

Mewtwo just stared in surprise. The sound of a breath rang out telepathically as they looked Ash in the eye, 'The same thing I've always wanted. Proof.'

Ash stared blankly and then gestured to his banette body.

'Not just proof that you are Mew.' Mewtwo argued, 'Proof that I am above Mew.'

Ash perked up in surprise. Corey, Neesha, Joy, Dragonite, and Fergus's eyes widened in shock.

One of them looked at Ash blankly, 'Mew?'

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed, 'I was designed to be the world's most powerful Pokémon. To be a superior version of Mew.' They held out their arms, 'And this "event" was nothing more than a means of drawing them into the open and proving it. The storm: a display of my power and a beacon to attract them. The battles and cloning: to provoke them into taking action.'

They put their arms down, 'Originally, I only intended to invite you and your allies due to your possession of the Phantom Child; thinking she might act as further provocation.' A small smirk formed on their face, 'But then those fools decided to brave the storm and showed me a possibility that my plan could succeed far better than I first expected. Better yet, in a way that meant that I didn't have to change anything. All I needed was to see it for myself.'

'… crag. That actually explains a lot.' Ash glared, 'But Team Rocket shouldn't know about Multifaker, unless…' He tensed up slightly and his eyes widened, 'They couldn't have found a way to spy on the Gym Battle, right?!'

Ash frowned, 'I'll confront them about it later.' He glanced down at the watch's symbol on his stomach, 'Though … if Mew really is the only reason they're doing all of this…' He glanced at his friends and the other trainers before looking at Mewtwo, "And if I said that I wasn't actually Mew?" He pointed at himself, "That I can do this for a different reason?"

Mewtwo's smile faded as they glared, 'Then you must take me for a fool.'

'Worth a shot.' Ash sighed, "So you really just want a battle, huh? Fine." He glanced at the other guests, "It's not like I really have a choice, anyway."

Mewtwo's eyes narrowed, 'Do you believe I would stoop that low?'

Ash glared at them again.

'…' Mewtwo's telepathic sigh rang out, 'I am only keeping them from interfering.' They glanced at everyone behind the glass harshly, 'Besides, it's not your friends that I doubt will stay out of it.' They looked at Ash, 'You had to have noticed.'

One of the trainers tensed up slightly. Almost everyone else perked up and stared at Mewtwo in surprise.

Ash glanced at the others before looking at Mewtwo, 'They're … not wrong.' He glared again, "And what about everyone you kidnapped? You're going to free them if I win, right?"

Mewtwo smirked, 'You have my word. So, I suggest you hold nothing back.'

'Nothing, huh?' "Any restrictions on what forms I use?" Ash asked, "Or how many?"

'I said "nothing," didn't I?' Mewtwo responded, 'Afterall,'

'Finally!'

They moved into their fighting stance, 'how can I prove my superiority if you're not giving it your all,'

'I can end this!'

'my prototype?'

Ash glared, "Fine."

He hit the symbol on his gut, lit up green and reemerged in human form. He then brought up and stared at the watch for a moment. He frowned uncomfortably before taking a deep breath ending in a sigh and pressed the button on the side of the watch to spring up the dial.

He started rotating the dial back and forth repeatedly. After he let go, Brock and Misty perked up in surprise when the face of the device suddenly emitted green light and started spinning on its own.

Ash just stared down at it uncomfortably and hit the button on the side to drop the dial back down. He looked ahead to find Mewtwo staring cautiously, "You said no holding back." He then removed his backpack, reached his right hand into it, and started rummaging around.

Mewtwo flinched and glared as their eyes lit up light blue.

Ash quickly brought his hand out of the bag and held it up; showing a Sitrus berry, an Oran berry, and a Leppa berry in his hand, "Hey, easy. I was just getting these."

The glow faded and Mewtwo raised a brow.

Ash deadpanned, "Why else would I grab these? You told me to give it my all and Drain Punch only does so much." He placed his bag on the ground but flinched as it immediately vanished. He was about to shout when he heard banging and looked over to find Brock knocking on the glass. He pointed back after seeing he got Ash's attention and Ash saw his bag on the dining table.

Ash glared at Mewtwo in annoyance. He sighed, lit up green, and emerged in his kangaskhan forms. Brock and Misty flinched and stared in shock as it happened.

The Parent Pokémon moved the Oran to his other hand and then passed it to the infant. Ash tossed the remaining two into his mouth and started chewing. Ash opened his mouth as wide as he could to stuff what the adult gave him into his mouth. The adult swallowed and the pair flashed green.

The mightyena moved into his fighting stance, "Alright." A swarm of Hidden Power appeared around him.

.

*Spectator Area

Brock and Misty flinched and stared in shock as Ash changed from himself to kangaskhan. They shared a look, deadpanned, and looked ahead in mild annoyance.

Gary noticed and looked at them in confusion. He glanced at Ash and looked at them again, "What's wrong?"

Corey, Neesha, Joy, and Dragonite jerked and looked at him in alarm.

Brock looked at them, smiled, and waved a hand, "Don't worry. It's not anything bad." He looked back ahead, "It's just something Ash will have to explain to us lat-" He was cut off when, within about a second-

Mightyena used Hidden Power. Ash transformed.

Pikachu used Hidden Power. Ash transformed.

Butterfree used Hidden Power. Ash transformed.

Chansey used Grass Knot.

Everyone flinched at the sound of attacks firing and looked over to catch a glimpse of the green and light blue energy spheres shooting towards Mewtwo with a white energy beam tailing the huge swarm.

Mewtwo glared back and crossed their arms as a purple barrier formed around them. As they did-

Chansey used Light Screen.

Chansey used Reflect.

Mewtwo's eyes widened as the attacks slammed into their barrier and shrouded them in smoke.

Ash transformed.

Darmanitan used Belly Drum. Ash transformed.

Vaporeon used Aqua Ring. Ash transformed.

Braviary used Tailwind. Ash transformed.

Mewtwo swept away the smoke and stared in shock.

Clefairy used Calm Mind.

Mewtwo used Psystrike.

"uh…" Neesha muttered.

"W- woah…" Fergus stuttered.

"Arceus…" Corey gulped, "the battle only just started…"

"I'm not sure it has." Misty said matter-of-factly while looking ahead calmly. Everyone except Brock and Togepi flinched and looked at her. "I think that was just a warmup."

Everyone out of the loop's eyes widened and they looked ahead in shock.

Ash transformed.

Pikachu used Agility.

Mewtwo used Drain Punch.

Ash transformed.

Mewtwo's Drain Punch had no effect on Banette.

Banette used Throat Chop. But it missed.

Gary stared in shock before frowning.

.

*.

'Ooo.' A small smile formed, 'Things just got interesting.'

.

*Underground; minutes later

In a giant laboratory was a large machine with numerous large tubes scattered around it. All of which were connected to the machine. Each tube was filled with stacks of various Pokémon suspended in a glowing liquid.

On the wall opposite to the machine was a massive hologram monitor displaying an aerial view of the battlefield. Venusaurtwo, Charizardtwo, Blastoisetwo, and Dragonitetwo -all still covered in scuff marks- grinned triumphantly at what they saw on the monitor.

But their smiles faded as the sound of glass shattering rang out from behind. All four looked back in shock as Psyduck landed on the ground in front of the machine.

The Water-type cracked his neck and smirked, "What do you know? It actually worked."

The four clones glared and quickly moved into their fighting stances.

Psyduck looked over them before raising a brow, "Huh…" His eyes lit up light green as he shoved a hand forward and swept it inward. A matching outline covered Dragonitetwo as Psyduck's Psychic shoved him off his feet and towards his fellow clones. The quartet ended up piled on top of one another.

Psyduck blinked in shock, "wow…" He looked back at the tubes and tensed up slightly upon seeing a copy of himself in one. He shook it off and looked around again. He smiled softly, 'Some of us managed to escape.' He looked at the awake clones again and smirked slyly, "I guess Soot really did a number on you guys."

He drew a hand back, his eyes blipped, and he flung his hand forward. The clones managed to look over and flinched as twenty-six of Mewtwo's pokéballs flew out of the machine and clattered on the ground around Psyduck.

As each pokéball landed, it burst open to release the Pokémon inside. Though, in seven cases, a pokéball emerged before bursting open. As a result, Geodude, Basculin, Nidoking, Dodrio, Wigglytuff, Scyther, and Rhyhorn were a little more shocked than any of the others by their surroundings.

Most of the Pokémon immediately glared at the four clones while some of the others noticed their own copies and stared in shock.

"I'd say that went well-" Psyduck stopped and his eyes widened when he noticed a figure out of the corner of his eye. He looked and his eyes widened at the sight of the three-legged Dark-type panting heavily with an erratic look in her eyes, 'Soot?' He looked around the tubes frantically, 'But- that doesn't- where's-'

He was cut off as Ash screamed something.

Everyone flinched and looked at the screen as a massive surge of green light erupted outward. Some even had to turn away from the overbearing glow. Everyone -even the clones- just stared in shock as the light faded.

Soot's eyes widened in shock, "Dad?"

.

.

Trix: Next time on Pokémon Trix-

(Strike Back)
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