ADR 0002

New Island Cloning Facility

December 24th

11:58 PM

"Status report," Uxie mentally imparted onto one of the kadabra working at the communications desk.

"All is quiet, lord Uxie," the psychic replied and felt the psychic link detach as the sprite floated away. The kadabra continued about his work but paused for a moment when he considered that for a moment he could've sworn he had felt something through the link. Fear?

The psychic shook his head at the absurdity of it all. It must've been his mistake due to working for so many hours. With all his power, allies, and resources, who on the planet could ever make his master feel even the slightest twinge of concern?

As if to answer his question a window appeared on the screen, alerting him to an intruder entering their territory.

Oh forks! I just told him everything was fine.

He immediately felt Uxie blip into being behind him.

"Report?" the sprite of knowledge asked aloud, this time the tremor in his tone was unmistakable.

"Nothing to worry about my lord. Something just entered too close to the island and is triggering the alarms. It might just be a lost tentacruel who-"

The dot on the screen blurred down, passing several lines representing the copious barriers the kadabra and Alakazam had painstakingly set up in the event of an invasion. It was supposed to be strong enough to fend off a combined assault from Unova, Ransei, and LaRousse but whoever this dot represented was bypassing their defenses like they weren't even there.

The klaxon of several alarms sounded throughout the facility, Alakazam, Metagross, and their previous evolutions scrambled to their battle positions. Uxie shook his head and sighed. He could not afford another loss of resources like last year.

"Code Black. All staff to evacuate facility immediately."

"Code Bla-" the kadabra was at a loss for words. The only time that code was to ever be used was if an Arceus-class threat was to attack them.

The kadabra quickly typed in the message and sent it to anyone still at a terminal. Following procedure, he teleported to a safe zone Uxie had designated for them years ago, hundreds of miles away from the New Island facility.

Uxie simmered in the silence for a few heartbeats, then teleported to a space a few meters above his building. The skies were a murky gray, matching the churning seas around the island. A chilling wind brushed past the sprite and would've sent goosebumps along Uxie's flesh if not for the psychic barrier that held the cold and wind at bay.

"Oh ho ho," a figure from below bellowed, "I see that you decided to spare your forces this time." Uxie bristled, having not sensed the intruder so close by. Dozens of theories formed in his mind as to why he couldn't locate the aura as he floated down to be at eyelevel with the intruder. Uxie opened his right eye, revealing a bionic replacement he had the Alakazam and Metagross develop for him. After the first year of the undampening he quickly learned that there were things his psychic senses couldn't register.

"Have learned from last time," Uxie said slowly, noting the twelve pokémon strapped to the intruder's chariot.

"Indeed you have, but then again you were always good at learning weren't you, Uxie. I'm surprised you didn't try to run."

"Escape pointless. Your ability to know status and location of every sentient entity makes no place in universe or any parallel dimension suitable to evade your notice. Threats to destroy all my facilities and resources if escape attempted."

"So good that you remembered," the portly man chuckled heartily, slapping his ample gut. "You do love your toys, and it really would be a shame to break them. Even if you've been naughty."

"Never been fond of small talk. Purpose of your arrival would be appreciated."

"Straight to business, eh? Ho ho, that's what I like about you, Uxie. Well ya see, just as you embody the capacity to learn, I embody wonder. I'm the legendary of awe you could say," The bearded man pulled off his red hat and half-moon spectacles, folding the latter up and dropping it into the former, before tossing both at the rows of stantler waiting behind him.

"Because of Ho-oh, I've been had to visit less and less houses in the last two years. Very few children survived the undampening, and those that did lost their sense of wonder for the world."

The man's crimson coat was next to come off being thrown into the freezing winds and carried off into the distance. Uxie did not see the sweat stained undershirt and a pair of suspenders but could almost feel the power radiating off the bulging and chiseled muscles beneath the fabric.

"Letters to my home have stopped flowing and the things that people wished for started to change. Last year it was munitions and rations. This year, everybody wished for one thing."

Last to be removed were the gloves, dropped unceremoniously to the floor.

"…Evolution?" Uxie offered hopefully, then felt a sensation he hadn't known in millennia when Santa's fist slammed into his midsection.

"Catharsis," Saint Nick replied, reeling his arm back through the shattered barrier around the sprite and watching him float back, clutching his midsection.

A tiny part of the sprite was fascinated by the novel concept of pain, the majority just wanted it all to stop. To say Uxie bruised easily was an understatement. Centuries of no physical contact had made the sprite's flesh as delicate as a newborn babe.

"If...If I die..." Uxie sputtered, watching Santa walk away from him, grabbing a sack atop his sleigh and gesturing for his Stantler to leave. Pere Noel dropped the bag and watched his sleigh fly off into the distance.

"Oh ho no, Uxie. I wouldn't dream of killing you. Even if it didn't mean dooming every thinking being in existence, killing you would be far too kind. So worry not, I'll be sure to deck your halls within an inch of your life." Kris Kringle cracked his neck and knuckles as he stepped forward.

"Not this time," Uxie managed to cough just before Mega Mewtwo crashed into father Christmas. The resulting shockwave from the collision was enough to send the sprite spinning away for a few meters. He was in the midst of righting himself when his barrier reformed, blocking the subsequent gusts of wind with every deflected punch. Uxie sent his awareness out, easily locating Mewtwo's aura but unable to pinpoint Pere Noel.

He must've become a dark type, but to think Ho-oh's actions managed to alter his typing.

Mewtwo's body entered Uxie's mentally implanted routine, a simple but brutal combo at first to test for openings, weaknesses. Santa's defense were top notch, not a movement was wasted and no over expenditure of energy to nudge his punches and kicks out of the way.

The space between the two became a cloud of fists, every deflection, every clash of their knuckles summoned a sphere of force that ballooned as their reeled back their fists for another strike. Even as Mega Mewtwo's programming had him increase the pressure, he could find no purchase in the wall of after-images formed by Santa's arms. Uxie noted that while Mewtwo attacked his opponent with his arms, legs, and tail, Pere Noel needed only his arms to keep him at bay.

The barrage went on for nearly a minute. Meters above them, Uxie noticed a quivering dome of snowflakes, unable to descend into the pocket of ferocity raging below. Every collision of limbs caused a clapping sound to rip through the air while there were only two combatants, Uxie felt as though he were in a fully filled stadium during a standing ovation.

"Ho ho, I'd say your friend is quite the fighter, but then, friend isn't the right word, is it? You've turned him into your own toy. I must say that I've considered making an entirely separate list for you, though this one would only be for the naughty things you've done."

"Morality not simple construct. Multifaceted. Layers and layers of complexity. Cannot be confined to outdated concepts of Naughty and Nice," Uxie bristled. The purple bruises over his body quickly faded as he used Recover.

"Ho," Mr. Klaus scoffed, "I hardly think controlling the body of this poor creature, against his will, hardly falls into a moral gray area." Despite the onslaught of blows being thrown at him, the sprite could see that Santa seemed hardly winded by the endeavor.

Mewtwo's programming registered the open dialogue as a lapse in focus, an opening, and reacted accordingly with the subroutines Uxie had implanted. Santa suddenly shifted his stance, watching with bemusement as a Mega Mewtwo's tail slashed through the air around him and sent a vacuum blade across the facility which continued into the horizon, parting the sea as it went.

A surge of anger flared within the sprite only to be quickly quelled by the logistics of situation. While Mewtwo could've boiled away the ocean or summoned tsunamis with a thought, Uxie had already established dozens of combat parameters into his mind to ensure no moves were used that could damage or destroy cloning facility was not damaged. The loss of his facility would set his projects back by several years, and as such, the most powerful piece on his board was restricted from using his full force., like a queen that could only move like a rook.

"The only present your older brother wished for was that you be freed." All jolliness had left Santa's expression, his stare and aura as cold as blue ice. Even with his bionic eye, Uxie couldn't follow the path of Santa's arm as it blurred forward. Mega Mewtwo's strikes slowed, their movements brought about by the momentum of earlier swings.

Hovering over his shoulders was Mewtwo's head, flakes of flesh swirling along the gaping hole where his throat once existed. Mewtwo's head started to dip when both it and the rest of the body burst into clouds of white smoke. The Substitution now spent.

Uxie was unfazed by Mewtwo's defeat, he'd programmed him to create a Substitute before any major battle. What bothered him more was the sheer, unprecedented strength.

"Never this powerful."

"I function the same way Jirachi does. Instead of one week every millennium, I am at the height of my power for two days out of the year."

Santa leapt into the air, drop kicking the empty space in front of him. His seemingly random attack became justified when Mega Mewtwo teleported into the end of his boots. The Genetic pokemon went flying, becoming a dot in the distance. Santa's landing made no sound, not even as he twirled around and launched himself into a lariat at the open air. Once again his foresight was rewarded when the clone blipped into view, body already angled into a High Jump Kick. Saint Nick twisted past the kick, his arm soaring towards its goal until Mewtwo lifted his arms to block.

Uxie fought against the shockwave pushing against his barrier, noting the bag Santa had dropped hadn't moved throughout the entire scuffle. Mewtwo held against the blow for a few seconds before the forces acting on him would be denied no longer and sent him tumbling down the length in the facility. The psychic rolled onto his feet, arms swaying limply at his sides. Uxie didn't have to search long to see why. Mega Mewtwo's arms had swollen to twice their size, sporting a sickly purple save for the area where they had caught Santa's strick. The flesh had caved inwards, black and bleeding.

Uxie had seen countless mangled bodies, some due to his own genetic splicing, others he had broken psychically. But the sight of Mewtwo's injuries sent shivers down his spine.

Is this because I've remembered what pain is?

Santa lunged forward with a speed the at belied what someone with his girth was capable of. Mega Mewtwo teleported into the air several meters away, arms starting to glow. Father Christmas readied himself for a leap when the gloomy skies above parted and were shunted past the horizon.

"Will not end like last time, Santa. I prepared for you," Uxie actually cackled.

Rayquaza coiled in place above him as Kyogre breached the surface of the sea in the distance.

"Ho ho my, three against one. What unfair odds...for the rest of you," Santa chuckled.

To be continued?

Maybe...