Zorua Trainer

by FriTik

Trainers are everywhere in the world of Pokemon! But who said they were all human? Ash is a Zorua, but he's going to be a Pokemon Trainer too! With illusions to weave, friends to make, and challenges to conquer, Ash is going to pursue his dreams, wherever that takes him.

50. The End of the World

Please, turn off or silence all cellular devices.

---

For some reason, the idea that Ash had enough of a reputation to have people seek him out for battles had never occurred to him.

At the very least it had never happened before.

"Been a while since someone came looking for me." Karen whistled. "Look at you kid, you're going up in the world."

"People come looking for you?" Misty seemed a bit surprised.

Brock was the one who answered. "Remember? She's placed pretty high in a few leagues. That gets other trainers' attention." Karen snapped and pointed at Brock, confirming he got it right.

"How do you know who I am?" Ash asked the visitor.

"You kidding?" The teenager (at least Ash thought he was a teenager) snorted. "You're the only person in the entire region to beat Sabrina!"

"I kind of forgot that little tidbit." Eve mused as the picnic was momentarily forgotten.

"Who's Sabrina?" Cranidos asked with his mouth full. He'd entirely devoured both his meal and the bowl.

"Long story, we'll tell you later." Pidgeotto decided, not wanting to dive into that hot mess. "But I'm still wondering how people know you beat her. I'm pretty sure the only one you told was Gary."

"So, you just want a battle then?" Ash felt a little thrill. Someone had come looking for him to battle! Was this how it felt to be famous?

"Just as long as you're not a Torchic!" A tiny part of the Zorua wanted to turn into a Torchic and beat this guy while in disguise, but he resisted.

"You're on!" His eyes wandered to his team and an idea struck him. "Hey Cranidos, do you want to watch or join in? This is your first time seeing a battle!"

Cranidos went cross-eyed again. "Battling is when two Pokemon hit each other until one falls over right?"

"Usually, sometimes one side surrenders," Storm added one stipulation.

"But if we're battling that means he wants something from us right?" Cranidos clarified.

"I don't think so, this one is just for fun." Sunny guessed. "Or, I guess he wants us to lose to him. Does that count as wanting something?"

"It might be better for you to watch." Ash second-guessed himself as his prospective opponent tapped his foot. "We haven't done any training yet…"

"Nah, I think I like hitting things. Do I hit this guy?" Cranidos disregarded the concern and stepped forward. "Or does he have Pokemon too?"

They got their answer when their opponent sent out a Donphan. The other Pokemon trumpeted a greeting.

"Right, just a quick rundown Cranidos, I'll tell you to use moves and warn you if I see something I don't think you noticed." A bit more basic than how he normally fought. At this point, he trusted his team to have some initiative and use moves if they saw an opportunity but Cranidos didn't have the experience yet.

"Well, I guess we get food and a show." Misty turned in her seat to enjoy the battle. "Good luck Cranidos!"

"Not Ash?" Karen prodded.

"…Ash do you want me to wish you luck too?" Misty relented and asked her friend. "I don't think you need it."

"I mean, luck can still be useful!" Ash decided and turned back to the other trainer. "What's your name by the way?"

"That's not important."

"So some people have names but others don't?" Cranidos checked. "The future is confusing!"

Professor Oak had added Cranidos to Ash's Pokedex, along with a list of his moves. They didn't have much to work with but if Cranidos wanted to give this a shot then Ash would do his best!

"Rollout Donphan!" His opponent shouted and Donphan rocketed across the grassy plain with the speed of something that moves very fast.

"Dodge it! Use Headbutt!" Ash called to Cranidos.

The fossil Pokemon yelped as he narrowly avoided the force of Donphan's attack, wind whipped past as the other Pokemon came back around. Cranidos rushed to meet him this time and there was a painful *crack* as the two hard-headed Pokemon collided.

"Oh, you do hit hard!" Cranidos shook off the dizziness. "Again!"

"Get in close and use Rock Smash!" Ash directed.

"Fire Fang Donphan!" Ash quirked an eyebrow at the move choice but shook it off. Cranidos wasn't a common Pokemon, maybe this guy thought he was a steel-type.

"Neat your teeth are really warm!" Cranidos observed as Donphan tried to chew his tail off. But his directive to use Rock Smash remained and through an impressive acrobatics feat he managed to kick backward and smash his head into Donphan once more.

"Show this prehistoric has-been who has the hardest head! Hit him with Rollout again!"

Cranidos didn't have a chance to dodge at this range and was bowled over this time. Ash encouraged him to get back on his feet. "Use Leer and then use Rock Smash to meet him!"

His eyes flashed as Donphan barreled down on him once more. Rock Smash connected but Donphan's momentum was too great and he ran down the fossil Pokemon, his trainer continuing to egg him on.

As Donphan's Rollout came around again Ash had an idea. "Use Stomp and Headbutt together! That should help you hold your ground!"

"Worth a try! I want to do more hitting back!" Cranidos slammed a foot into the ground making it shudder a small bit. Then he met Donphan's form once more with his head. This time he wasn't knocked down, instead his firmly placed legs dug a trench through the ground as Donphan's kinetic energy depleted.

Both Pokemon stepped back, breathing hard.

"That was fun!" Cranidos cackled and then fell to his side.

"Ha! One down! You might as well give up now!" The other trainer declared pointing at Ash.

Meanwhile, the Zorua was checking up on Cranidos. "You did really well for your first battle! Let's get you a potion real quick."

"Dash can I go!" Art volunteered. "I wanna go next! I missed the gym battle!"

"So did I." Pidgeotto raised a wing.

"But I asked first! That gives me dibs!"

"It's true, those are the rules." Storm gave Pidgeotto a comforting pat.

"Why are you taking so long!" The unnamed trainer whined.

Ash scowled at him and glanced at Donphan. "You good with him?"

"What?" Donphan seemed surprised at being addressed directly. "of course, I am! He taught me how to bite things in lots of different ways!"

Mollified for the moment, Ash turned his attention to his team. Eve had brought the potion over and Cranidos was back on his feet with a bit of a wince. "I have learned two new things! Hitting things is fun. Getting hit is slightly less fun but still a little fun."

"It's amazing how much you learn while traveling with Ash!" Selene encouraged her new teammate.

"Alright, Art!" Ash formally declared his next Pokemon. "Show them what you're made of!"

"SHEBANG!" Art jumped onto the battlefield and immediately fired off a Psybeam straight at Donphan.

Neither Donphan nor his trainer reacted in time to avoid Art's introduction. The beam of purple struck Donphan in a small mystical explosion and the Pokemon collapsed.

Ash was a little surprised. Cranidos had done some damage but he hadn't expected Art to finish the match so quickly.

Art seemed to be surprised himself. "Wow…" He stared at his new wand and immediately looked up, the eyes peeking out from under his bangs were filled with stars. "AGAIN AGAIN!"

Donphan's trainer didn't take the defeat so well. "What the heck was that!?" He demanded clenching his fists and squirming a little. "You didn't even call an attack! Well, we'll show you!"

He sent out his next Pokemon, a Machamp, both trainer and Pokemon flexed in the same pose as Art's excitement continued to rise.

"Another big guy! How hard will you fall down!?" He pointed his wand as Machamp charged him. A purple glow wrapped the fighting-type as Art used Psychic on him.

As Machamp was tossed around like a particularly buff ragdoll Ash felt a surge of satisfaction. One of the main things he'd been working on with Art was drilling him on how best to use his moves. Psychic was one of the worst offenders.

Oh sure, using it to alter the terrain or stop attacks was a great use of the move. But Art rarely used it as intended, on the other Pokemon.

That probably wouldn't be an issue in the future as the Ralts discovered the sheer joy of conducting his opponents through the air.

"And bam!" Machamp hit the ground and came back up. "And wham! And slam! And welcome to the jam!" At each rhyme, Machamp hit the ground again before Art finally lost hold of Psychic. The fighting-type staggered to his feet and attempted to charge Art again.

"Art! Teleport!" Ash called, encouraging his youngest teammate to try his newest move.

"Poof!" Art tensed, bringing his arms in front of him, and vanished in a flash of light as Machamp slammed a fist into the ground.

"Where did he-" The fighting-type looked around confused and then started glowing once more. "Oh no, NOT AGAIN-"

The poor very strong Pokemon was lifted into the air and found himself questioning his life choices.

"DANCE PUPPET DANCE!" Art cackled with more malice than he normally had as Machamp started hitting the ground.

"Should I be worried?" Ash whispered to Pikachu as Art tossed the much larger Pokemon around the battlefield.

"About Art? No more than usual." Pikachu claimed as Machamp hit the ground one last time, clearly knocked out.

The rage of the opposing trainer continued to grow. "This is no fair! So you can forget about me playing fair!"

"How is this not fair!?" Ash demanded, crossing his arms. He was starting to feel annoyed himself. "You challenged me to a battle! It's not my fault Art is super strong! …actually, never mind it kind of is."

"We have been training pretty hard." Pikachu nodded.

Regardless of whether or not training your teammates to reach their potential could be considered "unfair" the challenger's next move broke just about every rule in the book. He grabbed all three of his remaining Pokeballs and sent the rest of his team out.

Art now found himself facing down a Golem, a Venomoth, and a Pinsir.

"Alright, what gives?!" Karen cut in, getting up from her lunch. "You challenged Ash because you thought he was a good trainer, now that you get some proof you throw a fit? How can you call yourself a trainer?"

"I thought you were okay with ignoring honor in battle." Riolu narrowed his eyes, sounding a bit grumpy.

"If you remember I said follow the rules to the letter." She reminded him. "It's one thing to exploit a weakness or phobia, it's something else to send in multiple Pokemon outside of a double or triple battle."

Vest Guy (or Bandana Guy? Ash needed to call him something) ignored Karen and demanded his team charge Art and take him down.

"Time to step in?" Storm moved to join the battle, and Pidgeotto took off, ready to use one of her new moves.

"Pfft. Nah." Art waved off help from his teammates and Ash felt a twinge of concern. True he hadn't had much trouble with Machamp or Donphan but three Pokemon at once was a bit much.

The rest of his team clearly agreed and was ready to jump in despite Art's wishes but the Ralts went to work before they got a chance.

"POOF!" He shouted this time and vanished again, appearing behind the other three Pokemon. He waved and pointed his wand first at Golem and then at Pinsir and both tripped on Grass Knot. Venomoth turned to face him but he targeted them next.

"AND KABOOM!" He declared as Mystical Fire blasted the flying bug point blank. Venomoth went down in flames and he held his wand aloft as the bug-type's teammates regained their footing and tried to attack him again. A brilliant light flashed from the tip of his metal wand as he used Dazzling Gleam on them.

The two howled and covered their eyes, then were wrapped in the light of Psychic, lifted together, and smashed into each other. They fell to the ground, unmoving.

Speaking of unmoving, Ash and the rest of the team were frozen staring at the results of Art's training.

"That was… wow." Eve managed, staring at their youngest teammate with wide eyes.

"What she said." Pidgeotto agreed, coming in for a landing as Art Teleported back to them.

"TA-DAH!" He declared, holding his arms up in a pose. "Did I do good?! Did you see that Dash?! I was like, huzzah! And slash! And stab! And BOOM!"

As Art spoke he mimicked a bunch of movements and Ash burst out laughing, scooping up the fairy-type.

"That was amazing Art! You're incredible!" He congratulated him.

"I know I-" Art was cut off by a huge yawn. "-Am sleepy. I am sleepy."

"Guess you still need to work on how much energy you're using." Storm nodded. "Still, I'd say feeling a little tired was worth it when you took down almost an entire team by yourself!"

"I want to be as cool as Arthalothadamesh someday!" Cranidos declared, using the other Pokemon's full name.

"It occurs to me you are technically younger than him." Selene realized with a start. "I guess you're our youngest teammate now!"

"Does that make me a baby?"

Their opponent didn't stick around after that. He was probably feeling humiliated at losing three Pokemon to one Ralts he returned them and fled the scene. It was probably for the best, none of them wanted to invite him to stay for lunch.

"He wasn't that good a trainer." Misty mused as she poked at the remains of her food. "I mean, his Pokemon seemed pretty loyal but…"

"They looked stronger than they were." Brock summarized with a nod. "I wonder why he thought to challenge you, Ash?"

"Maybe he didn't get far with the gym challenge and decided to find a "famous" trainer to beat." Karen theorized. "Hoping he could beat one and earn some street cred."

"Am I really famous?" Ash was still wondering about how this guy heard about him. "I mean, we've done some stuff but I haven't done much bragging, have I?"

"No more than most trainers," Misty told him. "At least not in public. You and your team seem to have a habit of talking about how cool you are but it's hard to tell with only your part of it."

"It's not our fault we're so good." Pikachu proved how humble he was.

"Quite frankly, I think we should be showing off more. Challenging more trainers, letting certain Pokemon with feathers show off cool new moves like Sky Attack." Pidgeotto dropped a few hints.

"We just had a battle with Misty two days ago, why didn't you use it then?" Storm asked.

"Because I had to pick between that and Hurricane."

"Hurricane is cool." Selene nodded, accepting her answer.

"Why don't we just constantly learn cool new moves!" Art was beginning to push past his exhaustion. "We could just keep learning things until no one can stop us!"

"That's not really how it works." Eve reminded him. "Sure all our new moves are helpful, and I'd say we've all become a lot stronger. But we might be getting a little overconfident. Look at what happened with the giants yesterday."

"To be fair, what are the odds we're going to have to fight giants again?" Pikachu asked, rolling his eyes.

"I don't know, what are the odds of meeting any giants in the first place?" Eve shot back with a scathing look.

"Apparently, pretty dang high," Pikachu said but then his ears twitched. "Hang on, does anyone else hear-"

That was about all the warning the group got as a massive gust of wind tore threw their picnic and sent them all flying. No one was spared, not even the table. As they recovered the being responsible for their disgraceful gymnastics landed.

"Special delivery from New Island," Dragonite announced, reaching into their satchel.

"Watch where you're flying, most of us don't know how," Ash grumbled, fixing his hat. He'd been knocked out of his disguise by the fall.

"This is an express delivery." Dragonite held no shame for his actions. He held out an envelope to the group, waiting for one of them to take it.

Karen raked a hand through her disturbed hair and snatched the parcel with the other. "What's this?" She pulled out a metal tablet with a flashing light in the center.

As soon as she voiced the question the light emitted a beam that spread and a holographic image of a woman wearing an old fashioned gown and headpiece was displayed in her hand.

"Wait, since when are holograms an actual thing?" Misty demanded to know. Ash jumped onto her shoulder to see, deciding to forgo his illusion for the moment. Just in case Dragonite's takeoff was as destructive as his landing.

"Greetings Pokemon Trainers. I bear an invitation." The woman began in an even tone, slightly pitched by the nature of the message, like watching something on an old TV. "You have been chosen to join a select group of Pokemon Trainers at a special gathering."

"It will be hosted by my Master, the world's greatest Pokemon Trainer at his palace on New Island. A chartered ferry will leave from Old Shore Wharf to take you to the island this afternoon. Only trainers who present this invitation shall be admitted. If you decide to attend, you must reply at once." The message continued and Karen checked the envelope to find a piece of paper marked with checkboxes for yes or no.

"My Master awaits you." The woman curtsied and the message ended.

"Wow! First some random guy and now the world's greatest Pokemon Trainer!" Sunny was in awe. Then he blinked and tapped his chin. "Uh, does anyone know who the world's greatest Pokemon Trainer is?"

"I didn't know there was a world champion, just regional ones," Pidgeotto admitted the depth of her knowledge.

"That's interesting…" Brock admitted as Karen flipped the metal tablet over, seeing if there was anything else to it. "What do you guys think?"

"I want to go!" Ash admitted, "I want to know who it is! Maybe it's going to be like a tournament between trainers and the winner gets to face the greatest one! Or at least the person who says they're the greatest trainer!"

"Yeah, I highly doubt this person is the best trainer in the world." Karen agreed and turned her attention to the checkboxes. "But you're right, it could be interesting, it's not like we had other plans for the day."

"I wonder who it is too." Misty hummed, "Maybe it's Lance? After everything that happened this season, he might be trying to prove he's still the champion."

"Not out of the question," Brock noted. "He seems like the type of guy to have a palace on an island."

"Guess that covers it, we're going to New Island." Karen checked the "Yes" box and handed it back to Dragonite. The Pokemon gave a quick salute and took off, thankfully not quite as destructively as Ash had feared.

They watched Dragonite fly off and started prepping to leave. "If it's not Lance, who do you think it could be?"

"Cynthia, Drake, Steven, Bertha, Drasna…" Karen listed off some champions and Elite Four members that came to mind. "Could be someone we've never heard of!"

"Maybe it's someone who lost a league and had their friends turn their backs on them. So they went away for secret training and now they've come back to prove how great they are and show their former friends how much they suck for betraying them." Misty spewed out on the spot and the others stared at her.

"...I might be world-building too much." She shifted self-consciously.

Staryu considered. "It could make a good villain origin."

"It would suck if it happened to the heroes though." Misty realized, reconsidering.

"I would be really sad if you guys turned your backs on me," Ash agreed, it would suck for that to happen.

"Ash, look at us." Pikachu gestured at the group. "It would be pretty ridiculous for any of us to betray you, never mind all of us."

"We're getting off-topic anyway, let's stop theorizing and go meet the world's Greatest Pokemon Trainer!" Art declared, taking the lead. "We have to prove them wrong after all!"

---

As soon as they'd picked up their picnic the group set off down the road following the coast. Their lunch had been more of a brunch so they should still have time to make it to Old Shore Wharf, even if the timeframe of "this afternoon" was a little vague.

Ash made sure to check in with Professor Oak and his Trainer-Mom before they left. Just so they knew where they were going. He did have a minor problem that his entire team had come along for the picnic which meant he was exceeding the team limit.

He had ways of justifying it though. "This should only be for the day! So it should be fine, and I don't want anyone to miss out on this! And besides, they might not have a transfer system on New Island so if there's a tournament or something I want to have my whole team with me!"

Professor Oak was not entirely convinced but he clearly decided arguing with Ash about it was more trouble than it was worth. "Just this once, got it?"

"Got it." Ash closed the Pokegear and swung his arms behind his head, feeling perhaps a bit too proud of himself.

"You could have probably sent me and Cranidos back." Sunny volunteered. "Cinnabar was bigger than I thought but we don't know anything about New Island!"

"Come on!" Art encouraged him. "Don't you want to meet the greatest trainer in the world!?"

"Of course I do! But also, water."

"Speaking of water." Storm looked up as an overcast rapidly spread over the horizon. "Where did this come from?"

"Gah!" Misty threw her hands up to cover her face as the rain began coming down. "Let's hurry to the docks! I hope the waiting area is inside!"

"It is!" Karen confirmed as the group started running, Ash returning a few of his teammates (especially Sunny). "This is the port we came in from Cinnabar, we took a bit of a look around on our way through."

"Not as much as I would have liked, but considering the circumstance…" Brock mused, once again retrieving his trusty drying pan.

Soon they found themselves jogging on pavement instead of dirt or gravel and they made it to the departures building at the port only an hour after noon. The companions shook the water off and found that they were far from the only trainers invited to this little get-together.

"Wow!" Ash looked around at all the faces. Lots of trainers, most of them older than himself but he saw a good number that looked like they were around his age. "Guess the world's greatest trainer doesn't do small events."

"I'd say." Misty agreed, and the gang pushed through the sea of trainers trying to find a free spot to sit. "This makes the Cinnabar Pokemon Center look abandoned!"

Ash did his best to be careful, not wanting to burst his illusion in public, but he couldn't stop himself from looking around. Most trainers had at least one of their Pokemon out with them. Some of them were just relaxing with their teammates, waiting for boarding, others were psyching themselves up, and a few looked like they were on the verge of battling.

Karen craned her neck, doing her best to look over people's heads. "I don't see any familiar faces."

"Me neither," Ash admitted, he'd half expected to see the other Pallet Town trainers, or maybe even Mina or Mac. He paused for half a second when he spotted a boy with spikey hair, a billed cap, and a Pikachu on his shoulder. He nearly said something, but he was dragged along with his friends and quickly forgot the boy with oddly similar traits.

They managed to find a quieter corner of the room to wait things out in. Ash was forced to return more of his team to save space. Art and Pikachu remained out since they were the most opposed to their Pokeballs.

Not much of note happened for a bit. They continued debating who the "World's Greatest Pokemon Trainer" could be. A few new ideas cropped up, like league winners who didn't join the Elite Four. But then the discussion turned to Karen and her complaints about how colorful the room was.

"There has to be a way to turn it off." Brock frowned, trying to think of something his girlfriend hadn't tried.

"Can't you just close your eyes?" Misty asked the older girl.

"Oh gee! Why didn't I think of that?" Karen mocked and proceeded to do so. "What do you know! I can still see all the colors."

"Aura sight sounds annoying." Ash decided. "I mean, I guess it could be useful in battle though. Like if your opponent uses Dig or Smokescreen."

"I thought of that actually and I can't wait to try it out." Karen agreed there was at least one advantage. "But the rest of the time? I wish it would stop. Even the storm is glowing!"

The others shared a look. "I don't think weather is supposed to do that."

"Tell that to the weather," Karen muttered darkly, Riolu nodding his agreement.

Before the burgeoning insanity of Karen's aura sight could be discussed further, there was a sudden commotion near the door to the pier. Trainers began to gather around, trying to listen. Over the rabble, they could distantly hear the words of Officer Jenny.

"What's she saying?" Misty hissed into Ash's ear. He jumped, trying to get a better view. Just his luck everyone in front of them was taller than they were. Pikachu moved from his shoulder to his head to try to see over.

"I don't know!" He growled and Pikachu shushed both of them, his ears twitching.

"Officer Jenny is up there with some other woman. She said the ferry is canceled because of the storm." Pikachu said after a few moments. He frowned as the other woman spoke up. "And wow, she is terrible at keeping a crowd calm."

"What's she saying?" Art asked.

"Officer Jenny is doing her best, but the other woman just said that "the prophets" have predicted a storm that will end the world." The electric-type rolled his eyes. "I guess one world-ending prophecy isn't enough for one week."

"That was yesterday." Ash groaned, not putting much faith in it himself, but the disappointment was settling in. He'd been looking forward to this. It sounded like a lot of fun. Not to mention he'd wanted to see how they could measure up to someone who was claiming to be the best in the world.

He relayed the information to his human friends and received similar reactions. "Well so much for today. Guess we could wait out the storm here and then head back to Pallet Town." Karen crossed her arms with a huff.

"Maybe we could get our own tournament going," Misty suggested looking around at the other disappointed trainers. "There's enough people here."

"Hey, what are they doing?" Brock pointed at a trio of trainers who pushed through the door as soon as Officer Jenny and the doomsayer stepped away.

"Let's find out!" Art declared and shimmied his way up Ash. "After them Dash!" He directed and Ash followed along with a chuckle.

"I'll need to use anti-rust on my sword after this," Misty complained as she followed along, the teenagers right behind her.

As they raced after the other trainers Karen and Riolu let out cries of pain and physically covered their faces. "What the heck?!" She demanded, shouting over the sound of the storm.

They slowed a bit, but Ash saw the other trainers send out Pokemon. The girl sent out a Dewgong and jumped on their back. The slimmer boy sent out a Pidgeot and they took off into the air, and the last sent out a Gyrados who dove into the oncoming waves.

"What's wrong?" Brock rushed to Karen's aid first, she'd started staring at the ground instead of the horizon.

"I… freak what the heck?" She slowly looked back up. "I'm alright, just… you know when you're in a dark room and step out into sunlight? It was a bit like that, I just wasn't expecting it, neither was Riolu."

"So bright." The fighting-type whined rubbing his eyes.

"What's bright?" Ash asked, still confused.

"That!" She pointed into the distance, across the ocean. "You remember what I said about the storm glowing? Well something the same color is lit up like a star straight ahead of us."

"What color is it?" Misty asked this time only half teasing.

"Gray. Again, no idea what it means. But I'm starting to think this isn't a normal storm." She rubbed her eyes and squinted. "I think there's more going on here than just an invitation from the world's "greatest" Pokemon Trainer."

"Now we need to get to New Island!" Art insisted, tugging on Ash's hat-like reins. "Come on!"

"We don't have a way across the ocean!" Ash protested as they continued down the dock at a slower pace. "Pidgeotto might be able to if she flew high enough, but she'd need to carry all three of us!"

"We could whittle it down to two but you didn't bring your Pokeball…" Pikachu mused. "There's got to be a way across!"

"None of our Pokemon are large enough to carry us the whole way." Misty came to a similar conclusion. "Let's get inside and work out a plan, or put out a warning that something's causing this- actually never mind."

"What? You don't want to warn people about this?" Brock protested.

"Look, we don't have the best track record with actually getting help when we need it." Misty insisted, likely remembering the last time she'd tried to get help from the upper echelons of the Kanto League. "Besides that, if we just tried to warn the public it could cause a panic!"

"Professor Oak then?" Brock wasn't quite ready to give up. Before their debate could turn into an argument, a voice called to them from a boat alongside the pier.

"Yoo-hoo!" An odd accent greeted them and they looked at a pair of figures wrapped in furs, straps, and padded armor. Spiked helmets shadowed their eyes and one of them had a thick beard. "You seek passage cross yonder sea? We Vikings make the journey all the time!"

"Vikings?" Ash blinked, a familiar cord was struck by the voice though, and something about their facial structures. But their builds were hard to make out with the gear…

He took a few sniffs but all he could smell was salt water and fish.

"From the Minnesota region!" The bearded one spoke up in a similar accent. "We've come many leagues to meet the Greatest Trainer in the World!"

"Isn't that near Unova?" Karen remembered as Misty and Ash looked at each other.

"This seem fishy to you?" She asked.

"Yeah." He felt like there was a thought dancing just out of reach. "But do we have another choice?"

With reluctance but also a degree of determination the group boarded the wooden vessel, and the Vikings began to stroke, calling out their motions. As they kept repeating Ash realized why their voices sounded familiar and nearly screamed.

He was an idiot.

Seriously?

Disguises were his thing! He should have picked up on it immediately! Stupid accents or not! Familiar scent or not! He tensed and grasped Misty's hand, shooting her a panicked look.

"What?" She mouthed as the docks began to fall into the distance behind them.

Pikachu and Art were also staring at him with confusion. How was he the only one to notice?! What should he do? Were they even taking them to New Island? How did they know about it or the invitation for that matter? Would it be better to expose them?

Or trick them into exposing themselves?

"What's Minnesota like?" Ash asked suddenly.

"Wh-" The accent vanished for a split second. He narrowed his eyes, a mix of fury and embarrassment rushed through him. That was Jessie alright. Which meant the other one was James. But where was Meowth? "Come again?" She repeated with the correct weight this time.

"Minnesota, that's where you're from right?" He asked. "I was born in Unova, but I don't know anything about Minnesota!"

"Uh… well…" She stammered, not having a proper answer, but James saved her.

"We can tell you all we know of our homeland lad!" He let out a belly laugh to sell the bit. "But after we reach the island! Rowing in a storm is hard work! It needs our focus!"

"Incoming!" The figurehead Ash had missed screamed.

A wave slammed into them, washing over the boat, thankfully it didn't capsize them. But it hit hard enough for Ash's illusion to burst and the entire group tumbled to the back of the boat, coughing and gasping for air.

"You again?!" Karen sputtered glaring at Team Rocket, the water had washed off their disguises.

"No, we-" Jessie tried the accent again but realized the jig was up. She jumped to her feet. "Oh forget it! To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people-" James joined her and another wave washed over them.

"What now?!" Ash demanded from them. "What do you want!? Was kidnapping my Mom not enough?! Was my team beating your Boss's stupid face not enough?!"

The two coughed and sputtered, Meowth gripped the side of the boat with his claws, having been knocked from his perch. He pulled himself over the edge and they stared at Ash, registering his words and the fact they were once again confronted with their prize.

"You did what to the Boss?" Meowth asked.

"Get that Vulpix!" James reached for a Pokeball on his belt but another wave put that dream to rest.

Perhaps it was fate or sheer dumb luck, but that wave washed Team Rocket into the sea, leaving only the side of good and morally light gray left onboard.

"Grab the oars!" Brock shouted as the wind roared in their ears. "Karen you can still see the light right?!"

"I thought we weren't supposed to go into the light?!" Misty demanded as she grabbed the other paddle.

"Hold on!" Ash flashed into his illusion again and grabbed Art and Pikachu.

"Still ahead of us!" Karen screamed, clutching at the front bow of the ship. "This was a stupid idea!"

"Complain later, survive first!" Misty shouted back, her muscles straining as she fought to keep her grip on the oar even as the ocean tried to rip it away from her.

"Hold on!" Ash ducked his head and did his best to reinforce his illusion as a wave larger than any of the others hit them from the side. At last, the boat met its end, capsizing and dumping its occupants into the sea.

The water was deceptively calm beneath the surface. Ash did his best to maneuver, trying to hold onto Art and Pikachu while grabbing Storm's Pokeball from his bag. The Wartortle took one look at the situation, shook her head, and grabbed Art from Ash, motioning for him to grab her shell.

They broke the surface, gasping for air. "What were you thinking?!" Storm demanded from them.

"That we wanted to go to New Island and save the world!" Art whined but refused to meet her scolding gaze.

"Where are the others!?" Pikachu shouted over the sound.

"We need to find them!" Ash agreed.

"This conversation isn't over but you're right. Deep breaths!" Storm gave them warning as they ducked beneath the surface again.

Thankfully they didn't have to look for very long. Misty had Staryu, Goldeen, and Starmie out, the Pokemon had safely collected the humans.

Misty waved them down and the water-types joined ranks, forming a bit of a tow squad for the trainers and other Pokemon to latch onto. They were able to use their combined strength to move faster and with more stability.

Karen pointed ahead, likely still following the mysterious gray light at the heart of the storm. They did have to briefly break the surface for air.

"What happened to Team Rocket?" Brock asked as they took a few deep breaths, preparing to dive once more.

"No idea!" Ash hadn't seen them below the surface.

"Probably best not to think about it." Karen agreed, no doubt suspecting their deaths. "Come on! We probably shouldn't risk surfacing again unless we have to!"

They dove once more as another wave came crashing down.

---

Absol woke up from a nightmare, lay absolutely still for ten seconds, and then took off down the hall howling. She skidded across the floor and crashed into a wall, knocking a picture down. That minor disaster didn't even register as she rocketed down the stairs.

"DANGER! DEATH! GET TO HIGH GROUND! BARRICADE THE OPENINGS!" She shouted, Delia's present teammates leaped out of their seats as she shot past.

"What the heck got into you?" Ruth demanded, giving her the stink eye. She'd interrupted their puzzle-solving. "It's just a little bit of rain."

Absol shoved her face in front of the flying-type's beak. "That "little bit of rain" is going to flood the entire world. Wind stronger than any tornado will tear down skyscrapers. Lightning hotter than the sun will shatter mountains. Does that explain what got into me?"

Ruth shrunk back, staring at her with wide eyes. "...yes." She squawked.

"What should we do then?" Pie asked as Absol took a step back and gulped down a few mouthfuls of water and Pokemon food, she'd need the strength.

"Get as many Pokemon as you can, lead them to Professor Oaks, get his Alakazam's help, and send out a psychic broadcast, I'm going to find your trainer and teammates, as well as mine," Absol explained her plan.

"Uh…" Mimey and Mank exchanged a look. "Ash called a little while ago actually. He said they were going to a place called New Island to meet the strongest Pokemon Trainer in the world."

Absol stared at them and felt her eye twitch through the most painful headache she'd ever had. Then she howled for an entirely different reason than the oncoming end of the world.

---

Perhaps the oddest thing about reaching their destination was the calmness of the sea.

The next oddest thing was the alien-looking castle rising out of the ocean in front of them.

"We're alive right?" Pikachu checked, relishing the feeling of air in his lungs. "I never want to go swimming again!"

"You didn't even have to do any of the work!" Squirtle scolded him. Ahead of them was a dock with a figure on it holding a lantern.

"This is the place," Karen confirmed, squinting at the tallest tower. "Let's get out of the water."

"…guys." Art was following her gaze. "It's here."

"It?" Riolu tilted his head. The other psychic-types seemed similarly disturbed.

"The entity from the evil hidden stronghold." Staryu elaborated. "It is here."

"Mewtwo," Ash whispered suddenly feeling more than a little alarmed. That would explain a few things, but not everything.

"Welcome." The figure on the dock proved to be the woman from the invitation. "Please, present your invitation." She held out her hand. Ash frowned, maybe it was because of what just happened with Team Rocket but she seemed a little familiar too, at least now that he saw her in person.

Karen reached into her bag, dumped out several quarts of water, and produced the metal tablet. The image spluttered a bit as the hologram greeted the original. "The *bzzt* of this *bzzt* has permission to *bzzt*."

"…it might have gotten a little wet." Ash tried to play off.

"Thank you." The woman turned, her face blank. "Please, follow me to join the others."

As they started walking the group started whispering. "You said Mewtwo?" Misty checked with Ash. "As in the Mewtwo that put Professor Oak in a wheelchair?"

"I think?" Ash shrugged helplessly. "If he was the psychic presence from the Rocket Base then definitely."

"It is the same presence," Starmie confirmed. "And all signs seem to indicate that is Mewtwo."

"What's it doing here?" Karen hissed. "Why's it making the storm?"

Brock had a theory. "So, we can guess Mewtwo abandoned Team Rocket, at least based on what we know. Now someone claiming to be the greatest trainer in the world invites people to an island, that has Mewtwo on it."

"You think someone caught Mewtwo?" Karen guessed. "Makes sense I guess."

Ash frowned. "But why would Mewtwo listen to them?"

"Because they're evil! And so is Mewtwo!" Art gasped. "Evil team up!"

"If we want some answers, maybe we should ask her?" Storm suggested, pointing at their guide.

"Excuse me miss?" Ash tried. "Can you tell us anything about M- the world's greatest trainer?"

"My Master is the greatest Pokemon Trainer in the world." She said as though repeating a broken record.

"Yeah but, who is he?" Misty pressed.

"It is not my place to question my Master." She remained calm. "Please, hold all further questions until he is able to greet you."

Hearing her talk more, Ash knew she sounded familiar. He ran to the front of the group and walked backward in front of her for a moment. No way was he going to be tricked by disguises twice in one day!

She didn't react to his presence and just kept walking, he frowned and focused on her features. They were familiar like he'd seen them before a lot. But the eyes… they were wrong. Not the shape but the color…

"Nurse Joy!" He realized who he was thinking of. "What are you doing here?"

She did not answer the question but did correct his claim of her identity. "You must be mistaken. I have always existed here on New Island with my Master."

"…right so she's brainwashed or something." Pikachu guessed as Ash stepped aside and rejoined the rest of their friends.

"We need a plan." Karen decided. "Let's assume there's some evil trainer who was able to capture Mewtwo and is now using them to make the storm. What do we do about it?"

"I don't think we know enough to make a plan." Misty claimed, shooting a nervous glance at their guide. "Why gather trainers? Why the storm? How come Mewtwo is listening to them?"

A thought struck Ash but he pushed it aside. It seemed unlikely. But then again, it's what he would do.

It's what he had done actually.

"Maybe he doesn't have a trainer." Ash mused out loud. Letting the others hear his idea.

Misty's eyebrows went up while Brock and Karen looked at each other. "Wait, so maybe..?"

"I mean, I did it, Mina did it. I'm sure other Pokemon have done it." Ash let it spill out a bit more. "But we still don't know what he's planning."

"I think we're about to find out," Karen noted as they approached a large double door.

The woman who claimed she was not Nurse Joy opened the doors and gestured for them to enter. Inside was a truly massive chamber, Ash was pretty sure his house could have fit inside and not come close to the edges. There were fountains on opposite walls, a spiral staircase rising out of sight, and columns that were so tall that shadows hid their tops.

At the center of the room was a table stocked with food, and evidently they were not the first to arrive, the three trainers they'd followed onto the docks had beaten them here.

"Please send out your Pokemon and await the arrival of my Master." They were directed as Maybe-Joy crossed the room.

Not seeing the harm in sending out their teams they complied, if anything it might make it easier to deal with Mewtwo. Given the number of Pokemon in the room, it seemed the other trainers had been told the same thing.

"I don't think I like the ocean." Cranidos decided once released. "It's too bumpy. And loud."

"Really glad I don't have a physical stomach inside a Pokeball." Eve groaned, looking a little green.

"Let this be a lesson, next time you need to get around a world-ending storm have me fly you over it," Pidgeotto ordered.

"I'll make a note." Selene nodded.

Sunny shivered when Ash released him and wrapped his arms around Ash's leg. "Is it too late to go back to Professor Oak's?"

Ash winced and picked Sunny up, "You could feel all that in your Pokeball?" The Charmeleon nodded. "I'm sorry Sunny, I'll try to make it up to you."

"Can we go to an inland volcano?" He suggested as they approached the center of the room.

"What do you know, didn't think anyone else would show up." One of the boys noted as they approached. He cocked an eyebrow when he got a good look at Karen. "Sup Karen."

She raised a brow herself. "Do I know you?"

He huffed and leaned back, crossing his arms. "My name's Corey, you beat me in the Silver Conference."

"Corey… Corey…" She wracked her brain and snapped. "Right, you were the one who tried to use Close Combat on Umbreon."

"What do you mean tried?" One of the other trainers, the girl, asked. "I'm Neesha by the way."

"It looked like Titanfist had Umbreon cornered." Corey looked cross at the memory. "…it didn't go well."

"Let down all his defenses attacking a Substitute." Karen teased.

Further introductions were made, the trainer with the Gyrados was named Fergus, and he seemed to be riding a high Rapidash at the moment.

"So, Brock and Misty…" He looked at them, smirking a bit knowingly. "Taking any challengers?"

Misty started reaching for her sword and Ash had to physically stop her. "I'd like to see you beat a Latias." She glared at him.

"Wait a Latias?" Neesha recognized the name. "Isn't that a Pokemon from Hoenn?"

"Maybe, Joy didn't say where she came from." Brock sighed and sat down at the table. "That entire Gym Inspection was a mess."

"The Purge definitely jumped the gun." Corey agreed with him. "But, and don't take this the wrong way, the Kanto Gym Circuit needed an overhaul. It was a hot mess."

"Preaching to the choir there." Fergus had to admit. "Still, I wish I got a shot at Sabrina, you know I hear some kid managed to beat her?"

"Where'd you hear that?" Ash asked, he still wanted to know who'd been spreading that fact.

Unfortunately, he did not get his answer.

"The time has come," Maybe-Joy announced. "All the trainers have arrived."

"I'm pretty sure there were a lot more trainers." Pikachu snarked as a blue pillar of light appeared in the center of the spiral staircase.

"You will now be greeted by my Master, the Greatest Pokemon Trainer in the world." As she spoke a figure descended the column of light and Ash saw Art tense out of the corner of his eye.

The entity landed on the raised platform at the base of the staircase. It was taller than Ash's disguise but not by much. It was hard to tell if it was covered in fur from this distance but it was gray, darkening around the stomach and growing into a long tail.

They stood bipedal with glowing eyes, but the glow faded after a moment as it surveyed them. A cold smile crossed vaguely feline features.

"Might I introduce, the Ruler of New Island and soon the whole world, my Master, Mewtwo."

---

"You ever get the idea you're being watched?" Meowth asked his companions as they stalked through the halls of the mysterious castle.

"Mostly when I'm asleep, why?" James asked, carefully checking around a corner before rounding it.

The normal-type felt the air shift behind him and he whirled. Nothing there. Again. "I feel like we're being watched."

Something giggled in front of him and he spun again, still nothing. "Tell me ya heard the giggling!?"

"All I can hear is your yapping! So shove it, you're going to get us caught!" Jessie hissed at him.

"By who?" Meowth demanded, doing his best to ignore the thing that he felt breathing on the back of his head. If he turned around again it would disappear again.

"Good question," James admitted. "The strongest trainer maybe? You'd think he'd have servants or guards of some sort."

"We should have just attacked them at their silly little picnic," Jessie complained. "Then that stupid Dragonite had to blast through."

"I'd say it's an opportunity." James decreed. "We've been out of touch for long enough, it would be best if when we called the Boss we had more than just a Vulpix and a Pikachu to show for it!"

"Speaking of the Boss, did you hear what Vulpix was running his trap about?" Meowth asked, remembering their panicked voyage. "He's talkin' crazy!"

"Of course! As if a Pokemon like him could stop the Boss!" Jessie agreed.

James wasn't so sure. "But what if he had all his little twerp friends with him?"

"What are you saying, James?" Jessie narrowed her eyes at him as the group stopped. Meowth felt a light breeze as their mysterious follower moved again.

Just ignore them and they'll go away.

Maybe.

Focusing on the matter at hand, Meowth put in his own two Pokedollars. "You saying the twerps could have done something to the Boss?! Now you're talkin' crazy!"

Their blue-haired companion groaned with dismay. "We've talked about this! If we want to beat the twerps we can't underestimate them! No matter how twerpy they may be! We've trained and worked hard! If we go in too cocky it will have been for nothing!"

"It almost was for nothing." Jessie shivered remembering their dip in the ocean. "But you're changing the subject!"

"Look, I admit it sounds unlikely." James held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Think about it though! Sure one of the twerps might not be enough to beat the Boss. But if they all worked together and caught him by surprise?"

"…you might have a teeny tiny point." Meowth allowed with a glower. "All the more reason to get our revenge. Come on, let's find the goods or find the twerps."

"Hopefully the goods are with the twerps." Jessie decided, leaning against a wall for a moment. Suddenly the wall moved and opened up, melting into the frame like liquid. She let out a yelp as she fell back into the room.

"Where did this come from?" James and Meowth stepped forward as Jessie picked herself up.

They were in a room with an odd-looking machine and dozens of green tubes filled with liquid. There seemed to be a conveyor belt running through the center of the room, but given the appearance of everything in this freaky castle who knew what it actually was?

"Woah! You guys seein' what I'm seein'?" Meowth asked pointing at three tubes that were filled with more than just green liquid.

"If you're seeing a Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur with weird markings, then yes!" James confirmed taking a closer look. "How odd. Maybe more unknown regional variants? But they don't seem different enough…"

"Looks like a mad science lab," Jessie noted walking past them and looking up at the wires and pipework over their heads. "I wonder where Finklestein is."

"Dontcha mean Finklestein's monster?" Meowth was well-read and tapped his foot.

She put her hands on her hips. "No, I mean Dr. Finklestein himself! I read the book too you know!"

"No, you watched the movie! If you read the book you'd know he ain't a doctor!"

"Hmph." Jessie crossed her arms and failed to learn her lesson about leaning on things in this strange place. She sat back on a console of some sort and the screen flashed with static before a voiceover began.

"This is the Pokemon Replication System!" A digital voice began speaking. Team Rocket gathered around the screen to watch and Meowth felt the air move again as their stalker joined them once more.

"System activated!" Fuzzy images flashed across the screen, a blurry photo of the machine; it looked different. Now it held the same organic aesthetic as everything else here, but the one on screen looked like a typical shiny new piece of hardware.

"Pokemon based on DNA analysis." The group of elite criminals was enraptured by the presentation. "Pokemon DNA sampling sequence, now in progress."

Meowth didn't react when he felt something move behind him again. He did, however, react when a robotic claw grabbed him and dragged him into the air.

"HEY, WHAT'S THE BIG IDEAAAA!" It dragged him over the conveyor belt and into the dark tunnel of the machine. His claws flashed as he tried to cut the thing holding him but he didn't have a good angle.

Thankfully his beloved comrades had his back! For once. Jessie and James raced after him and each grabbed a paw. They dug their heels in as the machine tried to take him to some horrible, unspeakable fate.

He felt something scrape his tail and drag. Thankfully it didn't get any skin but he felt a sharp tug and sting as it ripped off a few hairs. The trio went flying back as the arm released him, collapsing in a heap.

They pulled themselves up and Meowth held his poor tail. "I made it, but just by a hair!"

A light came on and a holographic screen appeared in the air. "I think I found them," Jessie noted as three strands of fur appeared on it.

"Analysizing Pokemon genetic material." The robotic voice continued. "Pokemon identified, begin replication sequence."

"Who's that Pokemon?" James jokingly asked as Meowth appeared on the holographic screen.

Jessie took him at face value. "It's Meowth!"

There was a splashing sound from one of the tubes, and a series of bubbles spewed into one of the tubes. A shape traveled through, taking its place next to the other Pokemon in stasis. The three shared a look and rushed over, suspicions of what it was already in their minds.

"Nyaaah!" Meowth gaped, hands covering his mouth. Floating in the tube was another Meowth, identical to him.

"It's Meowth." Jessie flicked her head between them.

"But I'm Meowth!"

"So's the one in the tank!"

"That's your clone!"

Meowth shook his head and stepped back. "Could we get Finklestein's monster instead? Or even Zubacula?"

The sound of static distracted them again. "I haven't got much time!" The voice was different now, it sounded like a human recording, an old man.

"I pray this record of our experiment survives!" The trio rushed back over to the screen, at first there was no picture but a photo of a strange carving appeared. "A year ago we discovered a fossil that proved to be the remains of the ancient Pokemon, Mew!"

"Not my best side." If Meowth wasn't so focused on the apocalypse log he would have plugged his ears to ignore the stalker that was not real.

"There was enough genetic material to replicate Mew, but Giovanni who funded our project insisted we try to create super clones more powerful than any living Pokemon! Many attempts failed, but finally, our experiments proved successful! We produced a living Pokemon we called it Mewtwo!"

"Why would you do that? That sounds like a terrible idea." Jessie muttered and James nodded in agreement.

"But for some reason the creature's anger is out of control. With its psychic powers it is destroying our laboratory! We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokemon." Several images flashed in quick succession, the machine, the fossil, the carving, and the shape of "Mewtwo."

"And we succeeded." The recording ended.

"...guys." Meowth swallowed thickly. "I think we might be in over our heads."

---

Maybe-Joy continued speaking, explaining how the world's greatest trainer was also the world's most powerful Pokemon but Ash's attention was solely on her so-called "Master."

This was Mewtwo.

This was the Pokemon who had worked with Team Rocket. This was the Pokemon who was causing that dangerous storm outside. This was the Pokemon who hurt Arnold, Alakazam, and Charizard.

This was the Pokemon who put one of the best humans Ash knew in a wheelchair.

He trembled with rage and Sunny shot a worried look at him.

Ash wasn't the first one to speak though. Fergus stood up and slammed his hands on the table. "What?! A Pokemon can't be a trainer!"

Momentarily the boy gained Ash's ire, and that of his friends as they glared at him. Once again, he was robbed of getting the first word in. "Quiet human," Maybe-Joy told him. "From now on I am the one who makes the rules."

Based on the reactions of his friends though, she might not have been the only one speaking. Mewtwo turned his gaze to her and made a gesture, she collapsed, her headpiece falling off revealing the familiar hair of Nurse Joy, proving Ash's guess at her identity.

Mewtwo flicked his hand again and Fergus was wrapped in the purple glow of Psychic. Mewtwo lifted him into the air as the teenager screamed and his team became rowdy at their trainer's distress.

But Ash saw his chance. Mewtwo wasn't paying attention to him, and he hadn't used Miracle Eye since Ash couldn't hear his telepathy. Which meant…

He'd only get one shot.

Very slowly, not making any sudden movements, he shushed his team and set Sunny down, he braced himself and took a deep breath. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Misty's wide-eyed gaze as she realized what he was about to do.

Ash sprinted forward as fast as his legs could carry him, practically flying across the floor. He only got part of the way before Mewtwo heard his steps and switched his attention, carelessly tossing Fergus into one of the fountains.

The powerful psychic-type lazily raised an arm, forming a psychic barrier of some sort as Ash vaulted over the lip of his platform.

While it only lasted a second, the sheer satisfaction Ash felt from Mewtwo's bewildered look when he passed through his barrier without effort was something to treasure. Ash shoved his arms forward into Mewtwo's torso, feeling a bit weird doing this in his illusion.

"THIS IS FOR PROFESSOR OAK!" He screamed every dark memory he had rushed through his head. From his earliest memories of hunger and fear, his fight with Pikachu, the Spearow flock, AJ, Damian, Sabrina, Team Rocket, all of it fueled his attack and he used Night Daze point blank on the other Pokemon.

Mewtwo cried out in pain, his voice was raspy and surprisingly high, it sounded as though he'd never used his vocal cords before. Considering his abilities this very well might have been the case. Mewtwo staggered from the super-effective attack.

But he didn't go down.

His stance shifted and he glared at Ash with pure hatred. A purple eye briefly appeared in the air between them and Ash felt a chill run down his spine, the feeling you got when a boulder was over your head, or your ladder started tipping.

The feeling of imminent death.

'YOU DARE?" Mewtwo's voice thundered in his mind and Ash's illusion was ripped apart as a powerful psychic force wrapped around him. He screamed in pain as his bones creaked and lost his sense of up and down as he was sent flying through the air.

Something grabbed him out of the air, not another Psychic move but a pair of claws. His vision stabilized and he looked up at Pidgeotto beating her wings with a relieved expression on her face.

"Maybe don't try to fight the artificial death god by yourself." She suggested and set him down with the rest of the team.

"I only had one shot," Ash repeated his thoughts out loud, shame and fear filling him. He'd had his shot, he'd put everything he had into that attack. Mewtwo had felt it.

But now as the self-proclaimed most powerful Pokemon stood, glaring at them unharmed, Ash knew he had never had a chance.

'Well, I must admit.' Mewtwo's tone had shifted, the rage was there, but buried under pride and mocking. 'You've come closer to actually defeating me than anyone else. Bear that badge with pride for the rest of your life."

The tone and phrasing implied the rest of his life would not be that long. "You're a monster."

'A monster?' Mewtwo blinked, apparently surprised, but his expression turned into a smirk. 'Of all Pokemon, I thought you might understand. I suppose pride goeth before the fall as the humans put it. I had assumed you would be too awestruck to act before I addressed you Zorua. Or Ash as you prefer?'

"What the heck is going on?" Corey looked between the boy who had turned into a fluffy fox and the legendary addressing him by name.

"Shhh!" Neesha put a finger over her lips. "It's starting to get good!"

"How do you know my name?" Ash guessed the answer was "Because I read your mind," or "Because I read your friend's minds" but he'd still like to know.

'I was watching your little skirmish with Giovanni, my so-called partner.' Mewtwo spoke the word partner like it was covered with bile. 'I was becoming doubtful of his capabilities, and of his usefulness. He was quite articulate and made many promises. But through the failure of his organization and his battle with you, I realized how unnecessary he was.'

"That explains the explosion," Eve muttered. "But did he…"

She didn't need to finish the sentence.

'Humans made me to be a slave, Giovanni raised me to be a tool. But then you came along. A Pokemon claiming the title of trainer, ignoring what the pathetic infestation called human society had told you that you were allowed to be.' Mewtwo continued to elaborate. 'It was… inspiring.'

Ash did not enjoy the implication. "So you became a trainer? Did you at least wait until you turned ten?"

Mewtwo twitched, evidently, Ash had not given the response he wanted. "What is age but a number, my mind eclipses the whole of human knowledge. Why should I allow weak beings such as them to decide my fate? Why should I suffer such creatures to exist in my world?"

Ash looked at his human friends. "Because you like them. Because they like you. I mean, yeah there are plenty of bad ones like… Giovanni? I guess that's the Boss's name. And the rest of Team Rocket. But what about the good ones?"

'You are disappointingly naïve.' He could hear the sigh in Mewtwo's mental message.

He took offense to that and stood his ground. "And what? You aren't? You said humans made you a slave! Well, you clearly aren't one! You said Giovanni made you a tool! Well, are you still one now? All you're doing is complaining about what's wrong with humans instead of doing something to fix things!"

A cold laugh filled the minds of everyone in the room. 'At least you're a Pokemon who understands the value of actions. But my accusation stands. Listen, do you hear the sound outside?"

Silence rested on the trainers and Pokemon, only the sounds of the storm reaching them. 'What am I doing to fix things? I am removing the problem. My storm shall wipe this world clean, a fresh slate free of humanity's taint."

"So you're going to wipe out all humanity?" Karen couldn't stay quiet anymore. "Just like that? Let the Pokemon take over?"

'Not quite.' Nurse Joy began to stir, Brock and Karen went to her aid. 'The Pokemon of this world have been tainted by humanity's weakness. Even were I to wipe the infestation from the face of the earth, the lingering tumors of their touch would remain with the surviving Pokemon forever more."

The true nightmarish scope of Mewtwo's madness began to wash over them. 'I will eliminate them all, humans and Pokemon alike. I will rule over a new world. I was made here, cloned by human scientists who barely understood the powers they meddled with.'

He gestured at Nurse Joy even as she asked where she was and how she got there. 'You are within my palace.' Mewtwo addressed her directly now. 'I took you from the Pokemon Center, your knowledge of Pokemon Physiology proved useful in refining the Pokemon Replication process.'

"What's that?" Brock asked, glaring at him.

'Is it not obvious? I am a clone, it would only be fitting my subjects be clones as well.' He raised his arms in a grand gesture and made a flicking motion with his hand. Nothing seemed to happen this time, at least nothing obvious. 'I was created to be superior to Mew in every way, and so I shall create clones in like fashion.'

"What about me?" Cranidos raised his voice to ask.

'What?' Mewtwo looked at the fossil Pokemon with confusion.

Cranidos shifted with discomfort, not enjoying the feeling of having Mewtwo's attention focused solely on him. "Well, we were just talking about it earlier. I got brought back from a fossil in a lab. But I might not have been the Cranidos who left that fossil? Except I am and I have some pictures in my head but it doesn't feel like me so…"

He trailed off and looked at his new team, hoping someone else would jump in. Sunny had been the one to explain the idea to him and took the initiative. "We thought maybe Cranidos might be a clone of the original Cranidos? So that means clone Pokemon already exist, and that means you can't destroy Cranidos!"

'That's not the same.' Mewtwo discarded their argument. 'Besides, it's obvious human taint has already touched you.'

"You're just spewing the same stuff I used to." Pikachu took his turn. "But you're no better than any humans you're complaining about! The only difference is you have a bit more power, and all that means is you can do worse than they ever could."

"Why was destruction your first choice?" Ash added, "I didn't realize how bad people could be when I started my journey. I mean, I knew there were bad things in the world, but I didn't start thinking about what that meant until after I became a trainer. Things need to change! You're right about some humans who just see Pokemon as tools, but they can change! They can learn! We can learn too!"

'And yet I must lower myself to their level?' Mewtwo did not enjoy having his goals questioned. 'Why should I do things as a human would? Or even an ordinary Pokemon? I am so much more.'

"Then why call yourself a trainer at all?" Ash couldn't stop the tiny smirk.

There was a brief rumbling that shook the chamber and Ash briefly debated if annoying Mewtwo was the best way to do this. But his concern was baseless, the wall behind Mewtwo melted away and giant spotlights came on illuminating a stadium in the courtyard behind him.

'It's very simple.' Mewtwo had a smirk of his own. 'Because anything you can do, I can do better.'

"Maybe put your money where your mouth is." Corey was no longer willing to sit by and listen. "There's no ethical debate as far as I'm concerned! You're trying to destroy the world! If you ask me, that means anything goes! Including Rhyhorn!"

At his word his teammate roared and charged Mewtwo, the psychic-type rolled his eyes and with Psychic tossed Rhyhorn out onto the battlefield. 'If you're going to embarrass yourself at least do it on the field I designed for you to do it.'

Mewtwo turned and Corey lobbed something round at him. It was hard to tell with it flying through the air but it looked like some form of Pokeball. It froze before reaching Mewtwo and was crushed into dust. 'You're beginning to annoy me.'

"I think we could all get in on that." Misty shot at him. "You want to know what I see? I see a little kid throwing a tantrum!"

'What strange words you use to mock your own children. Tell me, shall you compare me to one of your infants as well?' Mewtwo's smile was icy.

"Why should we? At least babies are cute." Brock crossed his arms.

'Charming, if you do not wish for me to destroy you all now, we shall commence the battle. Who knows, perhaps your dogged efforts to prove your superiority will impress me.' he suggested mockingly and turned away, floating into the stadium behind him.

"I'll be honest, I'm not seeing much difference between you and any other show-off trainer," Neesha said even as they reluctantly began to follow. "You talk a big game, brag about how much better you are, and challenge us to prove you wrong."

'Do not compare me to one of your kind.'

"Why not? You already made that comparison by choosing to call yourself a trainer." Misty smirked a little, and an unspoken agreement rang between the trainers and Pokemon.

If Mewtwo expected them to shrink away and beg for mercy, he had another thing coming.

---

Mewtwo's plan was not going according to plan.

That was not entirely true. The mechanics of it were still functioning. The storm was still raging, he had a collection of fairly powerful Pokemon gathered in his lab so that he may create clones superior in every way.

But the little details were fraying.

First the Zorua, he was not acting as he should. He should be in awe of Mewtwo, maybe even a little proud that it was he who inspired Mewtwo to take the title of trainer. A lasting memento that would live eons past himself.

Instead, the wretched thing attacked him. Not even out of self-preservation, but out of some misguided ideal of justice over what he'd done to a human. If anything it was just more proof of humanity's plague.

That Zorua should be agreeing with Mewtwo, he was living proof that Pokemon didn't need humans and should not bother with them.

And then, questioning him? Trying to debate him? Insisting that Mewtwo was wrong? By all rights, he should have ripped Zorua apart by his limbs as his so-called "friends" watched.

He hadn't though. Not out of some form of kindness, no. He needed to prove Zorua wrong. Mewtwo was going to show that no matter how right he thought he was, that meant nothing compared to the utopia of power he meant to create.

Although it would seem his decision not to execute Zorua for his insolence had inspired the others to be more bold.

His words had given them fortitude, he would have to do something to change that. The next one to speak out of turn would be punished.

And how could he forget the trio of Giovanni's cronies crawling through his palace? The only reason he had not erased them from existence was he had better things to deal with. Not that they were a threat to begin with, he could feel the stupidity radiating off them from here.

At least his demonstration would continue uninterrupted.

His first clones marched onto the battlefield through the opposite door. He'd summoned them during his interactions with his guests. They emerged now, ready to prove their superiority. Charizardtwo, Blastoisetwo, and Venusaurtwo waited silently for their master's command.

'Like most trainers, I began with Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander. But their fully evolved forms suit my purposes far better.' He turned to the trainers. 'Here's your chance to prove the strength of the originals. I will enjoy watching you fail.'

"No one said the originals were better-" Zorua protested but two of the other trainers beat him to the punch.

"Let's show a copy is no match for the real deal Bruteroot!"

"I certainly have them beat in the looks department!" The Venusaur agreed.

"Shellshocker, I guess we're saving the world! Let's go for it!"

"I mean do we have to save the entire world? Can't we just save the parts we like?"

"We really shouldn't be fighting them one on one." Blue-Haired Human pointed out. "You were the one who said anything goes." She directed at Skinny-Brown-Haired Human.

'Bold of you to assume I would allow you to interfere.' Mewtwo flicked his wrist and she went flying backwards. Her companions cried with concern, pathetic. 'In only a brief amount of time, I have created and prepared Pokemon far more powerful than any other trainer.'

Zorua put his illusion back on for some reason. "Everything you say just proves you're nothing more than a bully pretending to be something more. You're just like Sabrina, lording your power over us and saying you're special."

'Special?' That was a description that hadn't occurred to Mewtwo, it was technically correct, there was no and never would be another Pokemon like himself. 'I suppose I am.'

"Be careful," Zorua warned the other trainers. "Considering how similar he is to her, I'll bet he's going to use his powers to read our minds and our Pokemon's. Then he can tell his own what to do with telepathy."

"Wait you fought Sabrina?" Female-Short-Haired Human quirked an eyebrow. "Wait, dark-type immunity, does that mean-"

"Yes, and I really want to know how everyone seems to know about it." Zorua waved off some mediocre achievement.

"What the heck is today?" Annoying Braggart complained. "Not one, but two Pokemon pretending to be trainers? This is insane."

Mewtwo couldn't stop the amusement that bubbled when he realized that both he and Zorua held that trainer in similar disdain. It seems they do share some beliefs after all.

'It seems only two of my clones will get a chance to prove themselves. A pity.' He mused telepathically. It was something he had realized before but he enjoyed the chance to mock them.

"No!" The Charmeleon was the one who spoke up and rushed onto the field. "I'm plenty strong! I don't care how you made Charizard! I worked for my strength!"

"Are you sure Sunny?" Zorua checked and they whispered to each other a touch too quiet for Mewtwo to hear.

Regardless… 'You claim to be better? How embarrassing, I suppose you shall understand better than all others how weak you are.'

Despite his words, Mewtwo found himself a little unnerved by the look in the fire-type's eyes and the way embers dripped from his mouth like saliva. What happened to the Pokemon cowering in his trainer's arms?

'Let us begin.' He gestured and Venusaurtwo stomped forward.

---

"Razor Leaf Bruteroot!" Corey shouted to his starter. Even as he dictated the battle, he was surprisingly tender with Rhyhorn, checking his injuries and using a potion.

They didn't hear Mewtwo's order but Vine Whip cut the Razor Leaf out of the air and reached for Bruteroot.

"That old trick?" Bruteroot laughed and petals rained from his back, swarming around him like a thousand tiny Beedrill. The Vine Whip seemed confused what to grab onto and was sliced to pieces as the petals turned razor sharp and shot forward at Venusaurtwo.

"Is Karen okay?" Misty glanced behind them as Brock helped her back, her arm swung over his shoulders.

"Ow." She summarized the experience of being thrown by Mewtwo. "Guess Ash is the only one who gets to annoy him."

"Lucky me." Ash turned back to the battle. Bruteroot roared and slammed his front legs down, grass rapidly covered the dirt field. "What do you think?" He didn't know Bruteroot like his trainer did.

"I'm trying not to, you were the one who warned us about the mind reading." Corey didn't take his eyes off the battlefield. "Grassy Glide!"

Bruteroot shot across the grass field, not moving his limbs as the grass itself sped him along like a torpedo. As he moved his body began to glow, Grassy Glide might not be the only attack he was using…

Venusaurtwo coughed up a large amount of Poison Powder and then spat out a Sludge Bomb. The bomb ignited the cloud and a huge poisonous explosion shook the battlefield and wind whipped the spectators, forcing them to shield themselves.

Just as they felt safe to look a second blast shook the arena, this one accompanied by a familiar white beam from Bruteroot that consumed Venusaurtwo. "Hyper Beam?" Neesha guessed.

"We realized that it didn't take too much energy for Bruteroot is use Grassy Glide." Corey grinned. "And why let that time go to waste?"

'Creative, but ineffective.' The wind picked up for a moment, clearing the smoke. Venusaurtwo was scuffed but relatively uninjured, Bruteroot had paused for a few deep breaths, the result of both the explosion and the Hyper Beam.

"Dang, that's normally a finisher," Corey muttered. "Guess there is something to these clones after all."

"They certainly look strong," Brock noted, his explanation the backdrop to Venusaurtwo successfully managing to grab Bruteroot with Vine Whip and throw him across the arena. "And well cared for, if I didn't know better I'd say Mewtwo had fostered years of trust and carefully worked with them to reach their full potential."

"That's the power of science I suppose." Eve's wry grin was a bit rueful.

Venusaurtwo began to charge, intent on finishing the job, but Corey and his partner weren't done yet.

"Was hoping to save this for the league, we can't recharge it here, but given the circumstance…" Corey pulled something out of his vest. "Bruteroot! Time to put your crown back on!"

"Dang it!" He seemed to have a similar opinion to his trainer, he pulled himself back to his feet and glowed with Synthesis, the worst of his injuries fading. "Fine! It can't be helped! Hit me!"

"What's that?" Fergus asked as Corey wound up for a throw. A small black orb in his hand.

"Terastalization!" He threw the orb to his Pokemon. Out of nowhere crystals erupted from the ground, covering Bruteroot entirely. Even Mewtwo's eyes were wide as they exploded, Bruteroot still stood there but transformed.

Unlike Camerupt's Mega Evolution, Bruteroot still held most of his old shape. The exception being a strange-looking candelabra structure on his head. Other than that the grass-type seemed to have been transformed into living crystals.

"I don't remember seeing that in the Crystal Caverns!" Selene claimed, staring at the other Pokemon with wonder in her eyes.

Ash nodded, just as mesmerized.

'What is this trickery?' Mewtwo demanded, his eyes narrowing.

"Something we picked up in Paldea!" Corey grinned. "You should have gone on a journey or two before declaring yourself the best in the world! Tera Blast!"

Bruteroot opened his mouth and what looked like a solid beam of red light spewed forth. Venusaurtwo howled in pain as the attack covered him.

"In case it wasn't obvious, Bruteroot's tera-type is fire," Corey smirked. "Burning Blossom!"

His partner reared up and slammed the ground once more, giant roots erupted underneath him and he breathed out another stream of light, this one was less solid and wrapped itself around the roots like vines.

As Venusaurtwo recovered and prepared vines to defend himself two roots as tall as he was erupted on either side of him. Huge red flowers made of crystals bloomed to life and exploded in a shower of flames, burning away the Overgrowth and leaving embers to rain onto the field.

"So much for your clone's superiority." Corey pumped his fist with a grin and most of the others joined him.

Karen and Riolu did not, staring into the smokecloud where Venusaurtwo had been. The others began to lose their good humor when they saw Mewtwo was smiling with them.

'An interesting technique, perhaps it was rash of me to assume I had learned all there was to know of this world. I suppose the first decade of my rule shall consist of me delving into all of my world's secrets. But as interesting as it is, the weakness is laughable.'

Corey's smile vanished as the smoke cleared and he saw Venusaurtwo injured but still standing. With another roar the poison-type jumped forward, crashing into the ground. As he did so the entire island began to shake. The rumbling grew so great that Ash's illusion was destroyed.

But Bruteroot took the worst of it, crevices opened under him as the ground ruptured from the Earthquake. At the same time, Venusaurtwo had Bulldozed forward and slammed a mountain of dirt into his duplicate.

The crystals exploded in a shower of light and Bruteroot was rendered a normal Venusaur again, where he then collapsed, knocked out.

"No!" Corey raced onto the field and came to his starter's aid. Venusaurtwo turned and marched back to Mewtwo's side.

'Even with a power I have not seen, the result stays the same.' He smirked mockingly. 'I'm sure in the hands of anyone besides a human it might have been beneficial.'

"Would you stop insulting humans already!" Ash demanded. "Pikachu you're wrong, he's worse than you were."

"Eh…" The electric-type looked doubtful and Mewtwo glared at Ash.

'In that case, why don't-'

He didn't get the chance to finish as Neesha shouted. "Dibs!"

Shellshocker ran onto the field with surprising speed for a Pokemon his size. "Oh yeah!"

Mewtwo closed his eyes and a mental sigh filled their minds, exasperation exemplified. 'Very well, the order does not matter.'

"Yeah, well Corey's not the only one with something up his sleeve!" Her smile didn't last long. "Unfortunately, mine might not be quite as effective."

'Another technique that will show the true depths of your folly?' Mewtwo raised a brow. 'In that case, by all means, show me your kind's dying gasp.'

"Who are you to tell me how to battle?" Neesha sneered. "Ash was right, the thing that makes you such a "great" trainer is your ability to read minds. That's how you knew Bruteroot's weakness right?"

'I'm sure I would have figured it out quickly without my abilities.' Mewtwo dismissed her argument. 'But I see your plan, do not think you can goad me into shackling myself. I am merely making use of my natural abilities. The only difference between the two of us is that I actually have abilities.'

The girl frowned as Mewtwo saw through her ruse. "Fine then, Shellshocker use Shell Smash!"

Despite themselves, Ash and Misty and their respective pre-evolutions of Blastoise found themselves a bit excited as Shellshocker got to work. Unlike most of his kind, Shellshocker seemed to be focused on hitting hard and fast as opposed to powerful defense with crushing attacks.

Blastoisetwo took a much more traditional approach, hardening his defenses as Shellshocker launched himself forward, slamming glowing fists into the clone.

"Brick Break?" Fergus guessed, watching Mewtwo's Pokemon fall on the backfoot.

"No one expects a Blastoise to overwhelm them with speed, all the better if they can't defend themselves from him." A familiar fire lit in Neesha's eyes. This was a trainer who knew the thrill of battle and wanted to crush her opponents.

'Unorthodox, but predictable.' Mewtwo noted as Blastoisetwo blasted his canons at Shellshocker to gain some distance. As he fell back he dropped into a spin and shot across the field, narrowly missing his intended target.

There was a brief moment of panic from the spectators as several hundred kilograms of Pokemon hurdled toward them but the clone bounced off an invisible barrier that shimmered, showing that it surrounded the field.

"Where did that come from?" Squirtle demanded, poking at it, unlike Blastoisetwo's collision there was no notable visual.

"Probably Mewtwo making sure we can't interfere." Storm guessed.

Blastoisetwo continued to bounce around the battlefield. Shellshocker was able to avoid some of the passes but not all of them. The other water-type was a blur of motion tearing across the field like a rocket-propelled top.

"You're just a pinball without direction!" Neesha shouted. "Rock Slide!"

Shellshocker smashed the ground and tore up a decent chunk of it. The dirt seemed to solidify and come raining down on the battlefield, crashing into Blastoisetwo and knocking him out of his spin. He staggered back to his feet and Shellshocker stayed on the offensive.

His canons clicked and a barrage of purple fire poured out, surprising a few of the spectators. "It's all fun and games until Dragon Pulse gets involved!" Neesha's grin was feral. "Follow up with Focus Blast!"

One canon began to glow brighter than the other as the attack charged, but Blastoisetwo recovered faster than anticipated. Without a word he blasted Water Pulse into the field, drowning it in water and mud.

It didn't do any real damage to Shellshocker but it did throw off his aim. The Focus Blast went wide and crashed into the barrier. Before either he or his trainer could come up with an alternative Blastoisetwo blasted the ground with Ice Beam, freezing it and trapping Shellshocker up to his waist.

Neesha scowled. "Fine, guess we're doing this. FULL Z-POWER!"

What happened next was one of the strangest things Ash had seen, which was saying something. First Neesha and Shellshocker posed in unison, mirroring each other, then they made a few waving dance moves. Once again even Mewtwo was confused by this turn of events.

This did nothing to stop him though as Blastoisetwo charged in, his head glowing, possibly to use Zen Headbutt.

Then the world changed, the dance had been odd but this was weird. Ash was still standing on the ground inside the stadium but he was also in an impossibly large ocean. The sun shone down on the surface high above. Somehow he stood in both places at the same time but he could still breathe normally despite feeling like he was underwater.

The others reacted similarly save Neesha, she expected it. "Hydro Vortex!"

Apparently no longer trapped by the ground, Shellshocker swam through the water at top speed, first colliding with Blastoisetwo and then beginning to circle, dragging the other water-type with him. In moments a whirlpool of massive proportions formed, filling the impossible oceans.

Bright lights marked clashes as Shellshocker attacked the clone, using the vortex to increase his momentum. The underwater cyclone expanded and Ash covered his face out of instinct to protect himself. But just as it reached the spectators the ocean vanished and they returned to normal reality.

"...I don't know what just happened." Sunny stood rigidly, eyes wide and alarmed but he seemed unharmed. "Was that what swimming feels like?"

"No, normally you aren't standing on the ground while deep in the ocean." Storm had no idea what to make of it either.

'Gimmick after gimmick.' Mewtwo complained as Blastoisetwo hauled himself to his feet. He looked hurt and weary but he wasn't out yet. 'Is this the true measure of trainers? Using tricks to achieve success?'

"Oh, I'm sorry." Neesha crossed her arms, smirking at her opponent. "What was it you said about making use of your abilities?"

'Enough of this!' Mewtwo's eyes glowed and Blastoisetwo roared as he seemed to get a second wind. Whether Mewtwo had directly interfered to give his Pokemon a boost or if he was merely imposing his will was unclear.

"I couldn't agree more!" Neesha's voice burned with the thrill of battle. "Finish him Shellshocker!"

"However this goes we're next." Eve got Ash and Sunny's attention. "I have an idea."

As the two Blastoise collided she explained her plan. "If he's reading minds as well as giving directions, he might not be able to dig deeply into them. Not if he needs to keep an eye on all of us to make sure we don't try anything."

"What does that mean?" Sunny asked, looking confused.

"It means you shouldn't go into this with a proper plan. You'll have to be reactive and spontaneous, which shouldn't be too hard, but not to think about the battle."

"Not think about the battle?" Ash worked through his confusion as Shellshocker slammed a fist into Blastoisetwo who reeled before coming back with Bite. "You mean just work on autopilot?"

"As much as possible, heck repeat mantras in your head. Make it harder for him. It's something I thought of after my fight with Kadabra. I was wondering how I could have done things differently." She elaborated a bit. "It's worth a shot at least, even if he knows we're planning this he can't do anything about it without focusing his attention more."

"Which could leave him vulnerable." Pidgeotto nodded, the rest of the team had listened in. "It's probably our best bet."

"Put him down! Brick Break!" Neesha shouted, cutting through their planning session.

Shellshocker slammed an arm into Blastoisetwo's head. But instead of going down the clone glowed, Enduring the hit. He lunged and crashed into Shellshocker and both of them hit the ground, unmoving.

Neesha clenched her fist, "We should have won that." She muttered, clearly displeased at being forced into a tie.

'I suppose I should congratulate you.' Mewtwos tone was full of mocking. 'Through years of training, and abusing strange techniques that I was unaware of, you barely managed to turn this battle into a tie.'

"Wasn't your whole point your clones were supposed to be superior?" She demanded, glaring at him. "Looks like you were wrong about that!"

'I remain unconvinced.' Mewtwo waved her off, literally. With his gesture, Shellshocker's unconscious form was thrown across the field and back into the main hall behind his enemies. 'Let's get this over with, tell me what odd power are you going to unleash in order to win Zorua?'

Ash ignored him. "You ready Sunny?"

Sunny looked at Charizardtwo as she launched into the air with a roar. "She looks strong. Time to show them I'm stronger!"

He raced forward, jumping into the air, and dove down, driving himself into the ground with Dig. Sunny may not have wings of his own but that advantage wouldn't do Charizardtwo any good if she couldn't see him.

Like Eve suggested, rather than let himself run through plans to help Sunny win, Ash instead started repeating something simple in his head. A series of phrases he'd picked up years ago while learning to talk. A is for attack, b is for berry, c is for catch, d is for damage…

Charizardtwo bathed the field with flames, no doubt trying to force Sunny out of his whole. But the Charmeleon wasn't budging. He was digging a series of tunnels under the field, trying to give himself options while repeating his own mantra. Dad, Pikachu, Pidgeotto, Selene, Eve, Storm, Art, Cranidos, Dad, Pikachu, Pidgeotto…

It did actually frustrate Mewtwo, a little at least. Truthfully Eve had underestimated how powerful his abilities were, reaching past surface thoughts to read intentions and memory was an easy feat. But the repeating mental voices made the task far more annoying than it had any right to be.

'No more games!' Mewtwo declared, cutting out Ash's thoughts as he began to repeat himself. Charizardtwo shot toward the ground and slammed into it, stomping her feet.

Beneath the ground, rocks began to close in on Sunny and he redirected himself toward the surface, and Charizardtwo's place of impact. He broke ground before Rock Tomb could trap him and bathed Charizardwo with Dragonbreath.

She roared in fury and Air Slash cut through the air, knocking Sunny off his feet and forcing him into a hunched stance. He shot forward under a Dragon Tail and caught Charizardtwo with Crunch.

His opponent shook off the attack and began working her wings, now that Sunny was back in the open she didn't have to stay grounded.

Rather than do a repeat performance Sunny latched onto her tail as she took off and climbed his way to her back, dragging himself up even as wind and gravity threatened to send him plummeting.

"Go Sunny!" Art cheered while Ash was much more concerned. Sunny didn't have a safe way to get back down, regardless of the outcome.

Sunny had come to a similar conclusion and was cursing himself. Despite this he did his best to take advantage of the situation. He unleashed Crunch and Slash on the Charizard clone, making her roar in pain.

His attacks came to an end as she shot higher, going above the clouds, below them the world-ending storm looked like an endless gray ocean, clouds roiling like waves, the illusion broken by lightning flashes and the distant roll of thunder.

Then Charizardtwo began to make complicated maneuvers, clearly trying to shake Sunny off. Sometimes she spun through the air, or she made jerky turns that merely made the smaller fire-type lose his grip.

"What would Dad do?" Sunny asked himself, wracking his brain. "Probably Night Daze… uhh, oh! What would Eve do?"

He looked at Charizardtwo's wings and realized he knew exactly what Eve would do. He didn't particularly like it, but he didn't have any other options.

Almost as soon as the thought struck him Charizardtwo shot back down. Mewtwo had probably read his mind, but they were so high up he still had time. She tried to level them out as they got below the clouds.

But Sunny used Metal Claw and reached for her right wing. "Sorry, but this will hurt you a lot more than it will hurt me!"

He grabbed the base of the wing and jerked his claw, closing his eyes with a wince at the cracking sound and the piercing roar of agony that Charizardtwo let loose. She did her best to glide but with one wing they began to spin in accelerating circles toward the ground.

"...this part might hurt us both the same though." Sunny got out before they hit the dirt, thankfully they weren't going straight down but they still carved out a long trail through the field, debris tearing at them both as the sudden force of the collision shook their bones.

Ash threw up his arms to shield his eyes from the dust cloud that rushed over them from the fall. As soon as it passed he tried to rush forward to check on Sunny but Mewtwo's barrier stopped him.

The dust settled though and he saw two red shapes lying unmoving. Sunny had been thrown off Charizardtwo's back by the crash and carven a small ditch of his own, but neither of them appeared to be conscious.

Even though he was still worried about Sunny, Ash did his best to swallow it as he faced Mewtwo. "What was that you were saying about learning how weak he was?"

Mewtwo glowered but offered no immediate response so Ash continued. "So one of your clones managed to beat one of our teammates, but the other two could only manage ties! They're strong that's for sure, but if it weren't for you they wouldn't be able to win. Which… I guess is what training is about."

It wasn't entirely lost on Ash that the reason Sunny was able to tie was because he hadn't evolved. If nothing else it proved that evolution really wasn't the instant win people thought it was.

'Your Pokemon are strong.' Ash frowned as Mewtwo ignored his points. 'Which plays perfectly into my plans. I will make superior versions of them, and they shall be far greater than these lesser prototypes."

A chill ran through Ash at those words. Made twofold both by the fact Mewtwo planned to take their teams, but also by how casually he was willing to toss aside his own creations.

"How do you plan to do that?" Corey demanded, he had been doing what he could for his starter with potions.

Mewtwo didn't answer verbally, instead a black river seemed to flow from one of the towers of his castle. As it closed in and spread out Ash realized it was a swarm of strange black Pokeballs. They hung ominously over Mewtwo's head.

A sadistic smile formed on Mewtwo's features. 'I suppose I have been neglecting the other part of training. What was that old catchphrase? Got to catch them all?'

Brock grabbed Ash's shoulder and shook him to get his attention. "Ash, you all have to run."

The phrasing of Mewtwo's threat had let the true intention fly over his head. He was going to take Bruteroot, Shellshocker, and Sunny sure, but he was also going to take every other Pokemon here, including Ash.

'Do not try to-' Mewtwo's sentence stopped suddenly and the pressure Ash had felt since he'd used Miracle Eye vanished. It must have finally worn off. Not that it did him any good now. The Eye Balls flew forward, targeting the Pokemon.

For a moment Ash hesitated, his gaze locking on Sunny. All his hesitation got him was a chance to see the Charmeleon get sucked into one of the strange balls.

"NO!" Ash shouted but a Peck from Pidgeotto knocked him out of his illusion and Pikachu shoved him along.

"I KNOW!" Pikachu shouted before Ash could protest. "BUT WE'RE IN TROUBLE TOO!"

The Pokemon weren't going to take this without a fight of course. Pidgeotto used Gust to knock away a group that swarmed them. Pikachu blasted Thunderbolts indiscriminately at every cluster he spotted. Staryu and Starmie used Psychic to knock the Eye Balls off-targets.

But it wasn't enough, despite their efforts there were simply too many of them, and one by one they started getting caught. Corey's Rhyhorn, Neesha's Seel, Fergus's Gyrados, but Ash's friends weren't exempt either.

As Storm used Water Gun to knock a ball away from Art, Squirtle shoved her out of the way of another that was coming behind her, only to be caught himself. Riolu had of course tried punching the problem but as soon as his fist struck he was sucked in.

There seemed to be an intelligence to the devious machines, and they slowly worked out ways around the attacks of the Pokemon. A dozen formed a net that surrounded Pidgeotto on all sides and left her unable to knock them all away, she was caught.

Art tried to use his wand like a bat only for the ball to curve at the last second and tag him in the side of the head. Cranidos had been limited to running but he tired himself out and eventually, they caught him.

One by one Ash's family was caught, each one a stab to his chest. Fury and rage fueling him he blasted off what felt like dozens of Night Dazes and Dark Pulses. But he was starting to wear himself out.

He didn't see the ball that got him, but he felt it click when it touched his side. The last thing he saw was Pikachu racing up the spiral stairs, taking down dozens of balls with each electric attack.

The process felt wrong, at least compared to a regular Pokeball, and in a dark mirror of his first time inside one instead of feeling safe, all he felt was fear.

---

Despite everything, Mewtwo was fairly satisfied with how everything had gone.

Sure, things hadn't played out exactly how he wanted, but it was the result that counted. He hadn't expected the trainers to do as well as they had, however, that was a positive in its own way.

It served as a reminder that the world ahead had more to it than he first assumed. He had been truthful before, he would spend a considerable amount of time after the creation of his new world to study the remains of the old, prying away all the secrets it hid.

The only question was where to begin? Perhaps after he had ensured his storm's success he would search the remains of humanity's literature for hints. Surely they must have stumbled onto a useful hint by accident at least once or twice.

A sob dragged him out of his thoughts. Ah yes, how could he forget his guests? He smiled slightly in amusement as he drank in their despair. After all their bluster and bragging they now stood despondent and broken.

One of them, the Orange-Haired Human was crouched near where her Pokemon were caught, she was clutching Zorua's hat in her hands.

As Mewtwo observed them he felt dozens of new minds begin to pop into existence. Splitting his attention, he sent orders to his new clones to join him along with a few details of their purpose. Not to mention a bit of programing. Nothing too complicated, there would be time for that later. But first…

'This concludes the event.' Mewtwo announced, barely keeping a straight face. 'As a gift, you are now all free to leave.'

A pair of gates near the middle of the arena opened, showing the edge of the island and the storm that tormented the ocean beyond.

Now he let the smile play out. 'But you cannot escape your fate.'

They tensed and glared at him, each of them bared their thoughts to him. Hatred, desire to stop him, desire to fight him, but none of them dared approach.

'Come now, where was that fight you had?' He asked, holding his arms wide. 'Strike me down, surely the dominant species can defeat something it created?'

None of them moved and he continued. 'No? I thought not. Look at you, your weakness is so pathetic it makes me ill. Your reliance on Pokemon for all things is disgusting, your kind should have died in its infancy. The fact you managed to hide from extinction is an insult to life itself.'

'Even if you all moved to strike me at once, what could you do? The only trainer among you who actually intrigued me tried, and he was a Pokemon. He unleashed his most powerful attack against me and it failed. You could swing your meaty fists at me as much as you like, you'd exhaust yourselves before I so much as bruised, assuming I let you live that long.'

All of his disgust and hatred for humanity poured out, this was the last chance he'd get to interact with their species and they would hear every word. 'How many problems has your species created? How many times have you had to rely on Pokemon to clean up the messes you created? And how do you reward them? Imprisoning them and forcing them to do your bidding. You're nothing but parasites.'

"And you're not?" Orange-Haired Human stood and turned. Tears still poured down her face and she shoved the wrinkled hat over her head and started stalking toward him. He allowed it, she wanted to hurt him but he saw her thoughts, and she knew she couldn't hurt him physically.

Despite this, her mind was set she was going to try to rebuke him. Why not? He'd listen to humanity's last whimper.

"You're absolutely right. Humans are worthless." She continued to march forward, the tears no longer falling but her eyes were still red. "We can't do anything right, we're vain, we start stupid fights and can't even win them ourselves. There's so much wrong with us that it baffles me our friends put up with us."

"But you know what?!" She started raising her voice, "I DON'T CARE!" Mewtwo found himself a little amused by all this. So much for a well thought out speech. "Forget the world! I can't speak for everyone, but you will listen to ME! I don't care WHY they put up with me, I don't care HOW they put up with me like you say they shouldn't!"

"What matters is that they haven't thrown me away! Despite everything, all my faults, all my stupid nonsense, they're still my friends! They're still my family! They're practically the only family I have! Almost everyone I care about is on this island and you just took most of them away from me!" She stood mere feet from him now and stopped her march.

"They're better than me in literally every way! They're stronger, faster, smarter, better, I can't cross the ocean on my own! I can't fly on my own!" His amusement remained as she continued raving pointlessly. Truly a fitting final gasp, a human admitting all their failings.

"It was never about being on my own! It was about us! Together! Having fun! Going on adventures, crying, laughing, eating, whatever! So I owe it to them to do something! Even if it's pointless! At least it's better than walking into the ocean!"

His amusement reached a pinnacle as she raised her fist, intent to strike him. He didn't move to defend himself, she couldn't hurt him if she put all her might into her strike. Then he gleaned that she wasn't going to strike him with her fist.

With a sound of scraping metal and flash of steel she whipped her sword from its sheath and brought it down on him.

Mewtwo reacted a split second to late to stop her movement, but he did manage to protect himself.

Mostly.

The sword clattered to the ground and he trembled from the stinging sensation on his head. Gingerly he reached up with his hand and stared at the red that stained his fingertip.

Apocalyptic rage filled him like never before. Zorua was one thing, that was at least a Pokemon, one who had natural immunity to his abilities that he had neglected to circumvent. This was a worthless human whelp with a pointy metal stick.

He didn't waste another word on Misty, just threw his arm forward, a Shadow Ball in his grasp that exploded on impact with the girl. She screamed in agony and was thrown across the field, she landed in a broken heap and he adjusted his aim.

Two of the other humans moved towards her and he scowled. Mewtwo changed his mind, none of them would be leaving his island alive. He'd given them the chance to die on their own terms, now they had to die on his.

Psystrike lanced across the field, for a moment he saw the terror in the human's minds as they saw their death.

Then there was a flash of light. Mewtwo squinted and found the minds of the humans still present… along with another.

This… he had seen this mind before. Or had he? A dream of water and a mountain danced in his mind. A shape familiar yet not so floated in his mind's eye.

As if called from imagination he saw that shape in front of him now. Floating between him and the humans, long tail lashing through the air. Sparkles of white light gleamed in the air between them.

'Mew…' Could it really be? Now of all times? On the eve of his victory?

The mind he touched seemed to explode before him, a vast alien landscape, unlike anything he had touched before. Even the most exemplary Alakazam paled in comparison to the entity before him now. An odd thrill rushed through him.

"You know new baby brother." Mew's voice was a squeak that still echoed like the distant thunder in his ears. "I was just gonna put you in time out, but now I think you need a spanking."

---

Zoruatwo was a little confused.

Scratch that, he was super confused.

Which kind of sucked because he seemed to be the only one confused.

"Where is everyone going?" He tried asking Staryutwo.

"Master is summoning us." The other clone answered and kept marching, leaving Zoruatwo to sit back with a huff.

Staryutwo was not the first clone he'd asked, but they all gave him the same response So he tried to go over what he knew.

Which was not a lot all things considered.

He knew his name was Zoruatwo. He was a clone of Zorua. He knew he existed. He knew other clones existed. He knew he could hit things.

That was not many things.

"Do you know where everyone is going?" He perked up when he heard a familiar question from someone else. He bounded over and nearly squealed for joy when he saw Umbreontwo questioning Rhyhorntwo.

Rhyhorntwo didn't even bother answering her, marching out of the lab with the others, leaving the two dark-types behind.

"Hi! I'm Zoruatwo! You don't know what's going on either?"

"Finally someone else who makes sense!" Umbreontwo seemed relieved. "The ones who bothered answering me just went "We must go to master, blah, seriousness." She mocked and made a goofy face.

Zoruatwo snickered. "That's what they keep telling me too! Who's this master supposed to be anyway?"

"I don't know, but I guess he must be a jerk." Umbreontwo guessed, that made sense to Zoruatwo, why tell everyone except for them?!

"That is surprisingly accurate actually." Another voice joined them and the pair jumped, turning to see Riolutwo behind them. "My apologies, I didn't mean to startle you."

"Do you know what's going on?" Zoruatwo tried again.

"Less than I like, but more than you it seems." Riolutwo rubbed his chin. "To begin with, we are clones."

"We knew that part actually." Umbreontwo volunteered and then frowned. "Wait how did we know that part?"

"Cloning machine stuff?" Zoruatwo didn't know either, but that was fine, he liked knowing how to think and talk and stuff.

Riolutwo nodded, "That's something, but specifically we are clones created by the legendary Pokemon Mewtwo for the express purpose of ruling over the world once he has finished exterminating all other life on it."

Zoruatwo gasped in horror. "That sounds terrible! Why would he do something like that?!"

"Because he's a jerk!" Umbreontwo repeated herself, her tone matching Zoruatwo's.

"As I said, you were pretty accurate." Riolutwo nodded. "Anyway, that's bad. At least I know it's bad. I tried telling some of the others but they ignored me. I don't know why they don't know, you two do."

"Also who is Mewtwo?" Zoruatwo asked. "He's a clone of Mew I guess? Who is Mew? And why do I know a bunch of other Pokemon but not Mew?"

"Supposedly Mew does not exist, but Mewtwo's existence proves they do." Riolutwo shrugged. "Anyway, we need to figure out a plan. I suggest our first step is talking to those three."

He pointed at a trio of people standing huddled together whispering to each other. Two humans and a Meowth. But that wasn't Meowthtwo, he'd seen Meowthtwo leave with the others. Zoruatwo cocked his head. "Who are they?"

"I don't know, but I think we should find out." Riolutwo took the lead. "Wait what are they…"

One of the tall ones threw a ball and another Pokemon popped into existence, their name appearing in Zoruatwo's head. "Kabutops?"

It began slashing at the cloning machine, it was joined by another Pokemon, an Omnastar (once again the name popped into his mind) who climbed it, using their tendrils to rip panels off and tear into the machine.

Zoruatwo frowned. "Should we be stopping this? I think that machine is our Mom."

"Mom?" Umbreontwo looked at him with confusion.

That made Zoruatwo second guess himself. "I don't know, I feel like Moms are important for some reason."

"We might have some lingering concepts from the Pokemon we were cloned from." Riolutwo guessed, having stopped his approach to watch the other Pokemon work. "I think the cloning process is more complicated than just creating copies, maybe it takes some scans of memories."

There was a series of explosions and black balls that looked like eyes rained down from the pipes and tubes over their heads. One bounced off Zoruatwo's head and he winced, rubbing at it as a burst of light appeared in front of him.

When he looked back up he stared into the eyes of another Zorua.

"Oh. Oh!" This must be the Pokemon he was cloned from! That was cool! What was he supposed to say to his original? "Uh, hi me! I'm you!"

---

Ash stared at "himself."

The other Zorua certainly had a lot of similarities to him. At least mostly, his fur was the same shade and he was the exact same shape and size as Ash. His head even had the same structure, his eyes and nose reflected just like it did with his exterior illusions.

But there was a difference, incredibly minor though. Unlike Ash's legs, the feet were still red, but there was a ring of dark fur just above his feet and then another ring of red above that.

Zoruatwo (at least that's who Ash assumed this was) shifted a little, looking a bit embarrassed. "Sorry, did I say something wrong?"

"What?" Ash blinked pulled from his thoughts. "No- no! I'm sorry too! I was just a little surprised. The last thing I remember was…"

He froze and immediately turned away from his clone, he could deal with that in a second. "Where's my team!?" Ash wasn't sure where they were or how he'd gotten free, but he saw Eye Balls littering the floor, some had already opened, freeing the Pokemon inside, others hadn't been opened yet.

Among the Pokemon who freed themselves, Ash saw familiar yellow fur and sobbed in relief. Barreling forward and tackling Pikachu with a joyous laugh. "You're okay!"

"Ash?" Pikachu blinked at him and reluctantly hugged him back. "Alright, I'm glad you're okay too, where's everyone else?"

"Working on it!" Storm spoke up nearby, whacking balls that hadn't opened yet in the center, making them burst. That must be why only some of them were free, it depended on how they landed.

"Is it okay if I follow you?" Zoruatwo asked him. "I don't know what's going on."

Pikachu stared at his best friend's clone. "I think I just walked into one of my old nightmares."

"Hardy har." Ash rolled his eyes. "Zoruatwo, could you help us free everyone?"

"Sure! Riolutwo and Umbreontwo can help too!" He pointed at two other clones and Ash blinked. Where were the other clones? Weren't they supposed to be on Mewtwo's side? Why were these three helping them?

He turned and got a much better question. "What?! Why are you three here?!"

"Isn't it obvious Vulpix?" James stood with his hands on his hips. "We're saving the world!"

Eve had been freed by Storm and approached them. "What do they want?"

"What do you mean you're saving the world?" Ash demanded, narrowing his eyes. He did not have an ounce of trust for these three.

"Don't you have eyes?" Jessie asked, she had picked up a metal bar and was using it to pry off panels. "Whoever built this place plans to create a clone army to take over the world! We have to stop them! How can we become the greatest criminals in the world when there's no world?"

"I don't know how they did it, but they used the wrong equation and got the correct answer," Eve muttered, shaking her head. She turned to Zoruatwo and hummed. "He does look just like you, except for the rings on his legs."

Zoruatwo looked at his leg and frowned. "Is that bad?"

"No, it's fine." Ash comforted his clone. "It just means you have something unique about you! Everyone should have something, whether it's physical or not!"

"Right, I don't think any more clones will be coming out of this!" There was one last explosion and James dusted off his hands despite not doing any of the work. Kabutops landed next to him and Ash eyed the evolved fossil warily, when had they managed that?

"So, what's the plan now boss?" Kabutops voice was a hiss. "We taking Vulpix and Pikachu? Fearow has been eager for a rematch."

"Wait Fearow?" Pikachu sounded as surprised as Ash felt. "What the heck happened to you guys?"

"Wouldn't you like to know weather rat?" Kabutops sneered.

"Before we start fighting amongst ourselves!" Riolutwo walked between the groups with his paws up. "Let's free everyone and work out a plan."

"Meowth?" Jessie's eyes wandered to their translator.

"He says we need a plan. I'm guessin' to take down da cloner themself?" Meowth guessed, directing his stare at Riolutwo. "But why are yous helpin' us? Shouldn't ya be on his side?"

"My creator is evil and wishes to destroy the world," Riolutwo said simply. "And unlike many of my brethren I have morals that tell me he is wrong. The only ones spared from his malicious designs are those he could not reach." He gestured at Zoruatwo and Umbreontwo.

"Right!" Ash realized with a grin. "Miracle Eye wore off! Which meant he couldn't do anything to you unless he thought to turn it back on!"

"Hey Dash?" Art approached them with a limping and bruised Sunny, Ash felt a rush of relief seeing the fire-type was okay, mostly okay at least. "You know how Mewtwo is this super big powerful thing we can sense?"

"You mean you and the other psychic-types?" Storm checked. "Although I've been feeling this pressure on the back of my neck since he introduced himself."

"Yeah, well there's two of him now." Art explained and they stared at him with newfound horror.

"How? I thought he said he was the only one?" Selene asked with a worried expression.

Eve turned to Riolutwo and Umbreontwo, "Did you see him make another clone of himself?"

"No!" Umbreontwo shook her head. "We didn't even know he existed until Riolutwo explained things to us!"

"If I may interject!" Staryu stepped in. "This new psychic power does not bear the same mark of evil that the monstrous homunculus does!"

"It feels familiar actually, but not quite the same," Starmie spoke up. "It was only for a moment, but do you remember when Aaron teleported in Rota?" She asked Staryu.

"Who's Aaron?" Art asked and Ash shared a glance with his team, before glancing at Meowth.

"What? I ain't no snitch!" He crossed his arms and their stares turned lidded. None of them believed him.

"A very powerful psychic we met during the party after the tournament." Starmie avoided saying Aaron's actual identity.

Art scrunched up his face. "Do you mean Mew?"

Pikachu facepalmed and Pidgeotto groaned. "You weren't even there! How did you know that?"

"I mean everyone in Rota knows Mew! He's funny." Art held his arms wide for a moment and then frowned at his empty hand. "I hope my wand's okay."

"Right, so Mew is here, that's something. You said it didn't feel the same though?" Pidgeotto glanced at Starmie. "Could it be a different Mew?"

"How many Mew are there?" Sunny asked, having switched from Art to Ash as a support.

"At least two I guess." Selene shrugged. "...or maybe three if Mewtwo counts."

"Hey!" Pikachu glanced at Meowth. "If we're working together could we have a potion or two? Sunny's hurt!"

"Did I win?" The fire-type asked.

"Yeah, you did!" Art cheered him on and he tried smiling but it came out more like a grimace of pain.

"Fine, fine, would it kill ya to use the magic word?" Meowth muttered and got the medicine to them.

"Now what?" Zubat asked, landing on Brock's Rhyhorn.

"Alright, so let's work this out." Ash started pacing and muttering to himself a bit. This gave the others a chance to interact.

"So, Zoruatwo is Ash's clone, and you're my clone?" Eve inspected Umbreontwo. Like with Zoruatwo, they were almost identical, Umbreontwo even had blue eyes like Eve. However, there was another set of golden rings wrapping around her ears and tail. "Why is there a difference in markings I wonder?"

"I don't know." Umbreontwo shrugged, uncaring of the explanation. "I think it looks neat."

"It does make you look a bit cooler!" Pikachu agreed and she smiled at him.

"Thanks! You're Pikachu, right? I think I saw Pikachutwo, he was one of the ones I tried asking before Riolutwo explained things. You seem nicer than he is."

"Huh, did he have any markings?" Pikachu was curious as Eve looked between them with growing horror.

"Hmm, oh yeah! The tips of his ears had a spike thing pointing down!" She remembered. "Fur I mean, it was just a little triangle."

"Neat, I guess I'll find out how much of a jerk he is soon," Pikachu noted looking thoughtful. "Do you know the same moves Eve knows?"

"Maybe? Uh, what do I know?" Umbreontwo hummed and Eve couldn't take it anymore.

"STOP GETTING ALONG!" She begged them. Before they could respond twin *whacks* and grunts of pain distracted them. Riolu and Riolutwo stood next to each other, both hunched over with the other's fist buried in their gut.

"Yep! You're good!" Riolu stood up grinning.

"Thank you, I am glad I have proven myself in your eyes," Riolutwo said gracefully. Like the others, he was nearly identical save for the way his "mask" peaked up sharply in the corners.

"You sound like Staryu."

Crandios stood by looking thoughtful, meaning that he had gone cross-eyed once again. "Hey Storm, I have a question."

"What's up?"

"So, if I'm a clone of the Cranidos who left my fossil, or his fossil I guess, and I just got cloned again, does that make me Cranidostwo and my clone Cranidosthree?" he asked, philosophizing a bit.

"Maybe you could ask him about it, assuming he's willing to talk." Storm suggested. "Or you could pick a nickname."

"The thing is I like being Cranidos." He kicked at the floor. "Calling myself something else feels wrong."

"Then keep calling yourself Cranidos!" Storm laughed a bit. "What are names anyway?"

"Confusing!"

"They can be." Selene nodded in agreement.

Ash paused his pacing. He had the beginnings of a plan, he wanted to ask for input but he was nervous. If he said it out loud and the others heard it then Mewtwo might be able to read their minds. Heck, that would be a problem no matter what!

The only reason he knew Mewtwo wasn't reading his mind now was because the pressure was gone. Maybe Mewtwo had thought to use Miracle Eye again by now and was just restraining himself?

Telling himself to stop overthinking things he looked around the room, trying to calm his thoughts. His team was grouped with the clones, Misty's team, Karen's team, and Brock's team. It occurred to him that they'd have a better chance if Karen had brought her usual dark-types.

Oh boy, Absol had gone to bed early and slept in after yesterday. She was probably howling with frustration right now. He wondered how much of this she sensed and how much had turned out to be the giant thing.

He saw the teams of the other trainers had regrouped, looking to their respective "leaders" Shellshocker, Bruteroot, and Gyrados. And then there was Team Rocket with their teams. Ash still wasn't sure he trusted them but they didn't have much of a choice.

His eyes continued to wander and landed on Zoruatwo, his clone was staring at him with wonder and a bit of sadness.

A stab of guilt hit Ash, he hadn't meant to shrug off Zoruatwo. He allowed himself to stop worrying for a second and started talking to him. "Sorry Zoruatwo, I didn't mean to ignore you like that."

"What? Oh I didn't… okay yeah I did feel like you were." He admitted drooping.

"That's my fault, just got worried about things." Ash sat down next to his clone and stared at him. "I guess I should introduce myself properly, I'm Ash! I was born in Unova but I've lived in Kanto most of my life."

"Where's Unova?" Zoruatwo asked, eager to learn about Ash's and by proxy his own origins.

"It's a region far away, but I got caught and came to Pallet Town, then I became a trainer and I've been exploring the region and challenging gyms!"

"Wow! You must have met loads of other Pokemon!" Zoruatwo showed at least one trait he shared with Ash. Although it might be one shared by all Zorua.

"Loads! I've even met other Zorua before, but this is the first time I met someone I'm related to!" He added.

"Really?" Zoruatwo seemed surprised. "What about your Mom? I don't know why but I think Moms are important and Riolutwo said something about getting memories from our originals?"

Ash smiled a little. "I never met my birth Mom, but my trainer became my Mom, she's the best human in the whole world! …don't tell Misty I said that, she's pretty great too."

"I won't! I don't even know who Misty is!" Zoruatwo promised and Ash snickered a bit.

"I'll introduce you after this. I think you'll like her." Ash looked up at the tubes on the ceiling. "I guess you're my brother. Kind of crazy to think about."

"Brother?" Zoruatwo tested the world and seemed to like it. "That's cool! I have a family now!"

"More than just me!" Ash laughed a bit, feeling better. "There's Mom and the rest of her team! Like Shelldon and Pix! And some others she just caught too! And then there's my team, Sunny calls me Dad but I'm not ready to be a dad, but it's okay because it makes him happy. Which led to Art calling me Dash. And Pidgeotto's dad is on Mom's team so she started calling me Uncle. But they're all part of my family, even without titles."

"Huh, wait wouldn't you be my Dad too since I was made from you?" Zoruatwo wondered but winced and looked at Ash with a bit of worry. "Sorry, you just said…"

"Nah I get it." Ash understood. "But you were made from me, not by me. I'd say you're more of my delayed twin brother."

"Oh, I get it now!" Zoruatwo nodded but then frowned. "Would that make Mewtwo my Dad?"

"Maybe, but he's not being a really good one, even to the other clones." Ash decided. "He called the ones we already fought "prototypes" and seemed ready to get rid of them. And he made all the others obey him, that's not good Dad material."

"He does seem a bit mean."

"Which is why we need to stop him." Ash took a deep breath, talking to Zoruatwo helped calm his thoughts. "Alright, attention everyone!"

His shouted got attention not just from his friends but the other Pokemon and Team Rocket too. He looked at all of them. "Mewtwo needs to be stopped, if we don't do it then who will? Not just for our friends down there, but for everyone else in the world!"

"Mewtwo himself is really strong, but now he has the clones too. I'm not sure if they're as strong as the first three were yet but they'll be dangerous too. But! They're not the target, they're being controlled and manipulated, Mewtwo didn't give most of them a choice to follow him. The ones who did chose not to!" He nodded at the three clones with them.

"We need to take them out of the fight, and stop Mewtwo, sounds simple right?"

"Not really," Shellshocker muttered, crossing his arms.

"How do you plan to stop him?" Gyrados was surprisingly unaggressive.

"Well…" Ash already had a few ideas but with a rush of adrenaline, they all seemed to come together perfectly.

"Aha!" Selene pointed at him. "Your eyes glowed again!"

"Yep, he knows Nasty Plot. I did a bit of digging after last time but I'm sure now." Eve smirked, but not in an unkind way.

Huh, that made a bit of sense. Ash couldn't remember when it had first happened but it was good to know, maybe he could do it on command now. He could worry about that later, first he lay down his "plot" for them.

They had a world to save!

---

Mew was a little annoyed by her new baby brother.

She had been so excited at first! It had been years since she had a new sibling! There weren't many Mew to begin with, and Dad wasn't in the habit of making more of them.

Too busy hanging out in his weird alternate god dimension. Stupid dads. No time to play.

But her siblings were loads of fun to play with! When they did play. Which happened. Sometimes.

She should probably check in on them. Mew lived in that weird rock tree right? And Mew lived on an island near Groudon and Kyogres' playground… well near was relative. Not to mention Mew who had been poking wormholes with the weird space Pokemon!

What was she doing again?

Oh right, new baby brother! He was being naughty.

Truth be told, she'd known about her new brother for months, but he seemed busy. She had checked in a few times though. First, he had been taking a bath in a weird tube. She sent him some happy dreams of the lake where the rest of them had been born. And a dream version of herself to say hi of course!

Then he was wearing some cool-looking armor and battling! That looked like fun, but the human he was hanging out with seemed kind of mean. So Mew had decided not to interrupt.

A few days ago she realized she hadn't checked in for a couple of months and decided to visit him again! There were several distractions along the way, including a really cool truck in one human city.

But then suddenly bam! Giant storm! And Baby Brother was causing it?! No! That was bad! He'd get in trouble for that! She needed to put him time out before some other meaner legendary got involved!

Sadly, she had let herself get distracted again. Thankfully she knew how to hide from other Mew. Years of pranks and hide-and-seek helped! His playground was just so much fun! She took a ride on the windmill. Oh, and he had clowns! They were fun to watch. And he made a machine to make more Pokemon? Like without the gross egg stuff? Super cool!

Then again the green goop was a little gross too, just a different gross.

So all that had been happening and after the video (which painted a very different picture than the bath she thought he'd been taking) she realized she should really find and talk to him.

And she arrived just in time to see him attacking a cute little human! And trying to kill her? No! Killing was not fun! Killing killed fun! It was against the Mew Rules!

Baby Brother needed more than a timeout.

Unfortunately, he did not seem to understand the problem. 'Why now?' Oh no did he not know how to talk yet? He was only using telepathy! Oh, he was so adorable looking, she just wanted to give him lots of hugs. 'Are you afraid Mew? Have you finally realized my power and come to challenge me?'

"No, I came to put you in timeout." Seriously she had just told him! But then again he was a baby, he might not be smart yet. "But you shouldn't do killings! If you do killings I will have to spank you Baby Brother! I don't want to but I will!"

A weirdly angry expression grew on Baby Brother's face. 'How dare you. Is this a game to you? I am Mewtwo, I was made to be superior to you in every way. I suppose your arrival is a blessing in disguise. I shall usher in my new world with your death!'

Seriously, more killing stuff? He definitely needed a spank- "OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Mew cried out in pain as a Shadow Ball collided and she was sent flying into one of the playground's towers. It didn't hurt that much, but it had surprised her! That wasn't fair! No cheapshots! It was in the Mew Rules.

Oh, he did not know the Mew Rules yet. She better tell him about those before they continued.

She popped back to Baby Brother. "Now Baby Brother, since you haven't been in a Mew Fight before no one has told you the Mew Rules. I guess I have to do that now."

He stared at her with (what she assumed) rapt attention. "Mew Rule #1, no cheapshots. That means the Mew Fight needs to officially start before you can attack. And no attacking after the Mew Fight officially ends! Unless another Mew Fight has started."

"Mew Rule #2, don't tell Dad. I mean that one isn't so hard since Dad is never around but still-" Baby Brother ignored Mew Rule #1 and tried another cheapshot.

"What did I just say!" She huffed and then saw her tail and was briefly distracted. She made a grab but it danced out of her grip. Dang it! She thought she had it that time. Oh no Baby Brother was talking, shoot, uh, what had he said?

'-and that is why I must cleanse the world!' Baby Brother finished what he was saying, swinging one of his super long arms. Why did he get super-long arms? If Mew had super long arms she would have got her tail by now!

What was that about cleansing the world?

"Wait, you want to cleanse the world?" Mew made a pause gesture, or tried. "As in, you want to destroy it?"

'Did you-' Baby Brother began to tremble. 'YES! I am going to destroy the world! It deserves to be destroyed! Humanity has ruined it! They deserve to die! Everything they touched needs to be destroyed!'

"...didn't humans make you?" Mew asked. "If they made you they can't be all bad."

'They made me to be a science experiment! They didn't care about me!' His mental voice screamed.

Mew frowned. "Well, I'm glad they made you, regardless of why. You're alive! And life is a wonderful thing."

Baby Brother went rigid, for reasons Mew couldn't fathom tears started falling. 'Who are you to say that? After everything they've done! They used me! I let myself act as nothing but a slave! I was a fool and now I am setting things to right!'

"Right?" Mew flew in a small circle wondering about that word. "Lots of people say they're right! What makes you different?"

'I have the power to make it so!'

"Is that it?" Mew was disappointed. "That's not a good reason to be right."

'ENOUGH OF THESE GAMES!' Baby Brother demanded and a powerful gust of wind rushed past Mew. 'PREPARE TO DIE! I MARK THE START OF MY RULE WITH YOUR DEATH!'

Mew was beginning to think Baby Brother needed more than a spanking.

He needed help.

But first, it looked like he wanted a Mew Fight. An orb of energy surrounded him and he flew at Mew, she formed a shield of her own and he bounced off. As he fell back she saw dozens of dark spheres forming in the air around them.

Oh, Baby Brother came to play? Fine. Mew had never lost a Mew Fight.

Except for that one time but that didn't count.

Rather than avoid the Shadow Balls she simply Transformed into a Jigglypuff for a moment. The attacks did nothing and she fell to the ground. She used Bounce as she hit it and as she flew at Baby Brother Transformed into a Cetitan. Over a thousand pounds of ice-type slammed into Mew's new sibling at Mach speed.

As he went reeling she Teleported behind him and used her tail to swing a Night Slash at him. He righted himself before he reached her and spun around swinging his hand with another Shadow Ball in it.

She didn't get a chance to avoid this one and the ghost-type move exploded on her. Once again, ow.

As they continued fighting she found herself both intrigued but also disappointed. Baby Brother was really smart! He didn't make the same mistake twice! When something didn't work he modified it or tried something different.

But he didn't know that many moves. Barely any in fact! That was sad, when this was all over she'd need to sit down with him and show him all the cool moves!

Wait where did he- AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH-

Mew crashed into the dirt with a wince. Huh, that was neat, she hadn't even seen him move! Cool. Still, despite the minor pains from his attacks most of them hadn't done too much damage.

She pulled herself up and saw him land near where he started. 'As you can see I am superior in every way!'

What? "Baby Brother in what world did that prove you were superior?"

'I threw you into the dirt, you are beneath me.' As he spoke she saw movement behind him. Oh right! The Pokemon he made. What were they doing here?

A quick scan of their minds left Mew more than a little concerned. "Baby Brother I'm sorry to tell you but you've somehow reinvented eugenics."

'What is eugenics?'

"Something we've tried very hard to make sure didn't happen!" Mew huffed. "Help and timeout. At the same time if possible."

'Stop your sniveling, you cannot defeat me, it is time for me to show you the true power of my clones.' Oh no, was Baby Brother going to bring even more babies into this Mew Fight? That was against Mew Rule #6!

Or was it Mew Rule #7?

Before she could tell him this, and then let him know she would not be fighting his army of babies, they were interrupted.

There was a flash of light between them and a red and blue smoke cloud rose up. Fireworks shot into the air and Mew momentarily forgot the Mew Fight to watch the pretty lights. A huge R appeared overhead and voices echoed from the smoke.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

With the beat of wings a Fearow cleared the smoke dramatically, allowing wisps along the edges of the field, but under the spotlights were… the clowns! Mew liked the clowns!

"Jessie!" The clown with red hair posed, throwing a hand back.

"James!" The one with blue hair pointed a rose as Baby Brother and his babies.

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!" At the word "light" bursts came from the Pokeballs.

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" The lights coalesced into several Pokemon. Weezing, Arbok, Kabutops, Omastar (wait weren't they extinct?), Arcanine, and Lickitung.

Fearow flew lower and cast his wings out wide over the heads of his allies and another Pokemon jumped from Fearow's head and posed in front of the others. "Meowth! That's right!"

Mew couldn't help herself. She Transformed into Hariyama and started clapping.

---

Karen had no idea what was going on anymore.

Then again, she hadn't known what was going on since Mewtwo had first shown up. How the heck did Team Rocket manage to clone a Pokemon that didn't even exist?

Ignoring the fact Ash had supposedly met one in Rota. She had never been sure of that story and secretly suspected it was some other Pokemon pretending to be Mew.

Well apparently she was wrong and Mew did exist! Because they were fighting Mewtwo right now!

But none of that mattered right now because Misty was dying.

Her breathing was shallow, she more than likely had several broken bones, and she was bleeding as if things were bad enough. She had literally taken an explosion at point-blank range. What had she been thinking trying to attack Mewtwo like that?

Stupid question, she'd said exactly what she'd been thinking. To Karen's great shame, the girl lying on the ground was braver than she was. All she could think about was how hopeless things were and how helpless she was.

Misty had thought the same and decided to go out swinging.

So Karen had to fix this.

Aura Healing, it was a thing. She knew it was. She'd seen it used, it was one of the first techniques she'd ever been shown.

Except she had no idea how to do it herself.

Her hands shook as she held them over Misty. No physical contact, that was the trick. You couldn't force your aura into another person and fix them. There had to be a buffer, the air served as a natural filter. It took away the user's signature and let the target absorb the energy as their own.

It wasn't working. She could see Misty's blue aura fading. She could see Brock's red-green mix and Nurse Joy's pink opposite her. Why could she see it and not use it herself?

"Work." She muttered under her breath trying to concentrate, ignoring the sounds of dueling gods overhead. "You owe me this after all the misery and grief, freaking work and let me save her!"

Her stupid powers stubbornly refused.

---

"Hurry!" Pikachu passed Geodude. "It sounds like they just finished their motto up there!"

"This would be a lot easier with Onix!" Geodude said and continued his work.

"Yes, it would be!" Eve agreed running past them both to help Zoruatwo and Umbreontwo. "But his digging would be a lot more noticeable!"

"We're done over here!" Sunny confirmed, running over with Sandslash. "Where should we go?"

"Uhh," Pikachu looked around, most of the work was done now, they just needed to add the finishing touches and "pull the lever." "I think you're good to join the others. Let's just hope those goofs do their jobs."

"I hate we need to rely on them for this." Sunny sighed but followed the direction, he and Sandslash ran down the escape tunnel.

"Almost ready!" Ash joined Pikachu. "Come on, let's make sure everyone else to in position."

"I feel like it would have been easier to just attack the clones and deal with the fallout later," Pikachu grumbled, nodding at his own part of the dig and following his old friend. "I mean, Zoruatwo and Umbreontwo seem alright."

"They don't have Mewtwo in their heads." Ash reminded him. "The others never got that chance. Besides, we don't know how strong they are."

They exited the tunnels beneath the stadium and climbed the scaffolding up the stands. Pikachu wasn't sure why Mewtwo had bothered with seating if he planned on killing everyone but it made things easier for them.

"There you are!" Pidgeotto greeted them at a hole in the benches. "Believe it or not the distraction is working."

"I don't believe it," Pikachu confirmed and they joined her and the others.

Storm nodded at them but didn't take her eyes off the field. "Mewtwo is letting his clones do the work right now, and we were right about Mew."

"Is it Aaron?" Pikachu asked, wondering if he had come all the way from Rota. But maybe distance didn't mean much with teleport. Storm shook her head.

"No, this one is different. We probably have her to thank for keeping Mewtwo's attention. But she doesn't seem interested in fighting now. She was at first but after the clones showed up she backed off. Now she's just watching." She explained. "Also we may have a problem."

"What now?"

Storm didn't answer and just pointed. At first, neither of the new arrivals understood the problem.

Then it struck them. Team Rocket was actually putting up a good fight.

Mewtwo was standing back, letting his clones do the work, so that was something. There was probably a reason for it, maybe he and Mew had agreed to let this play out. Whatever the case Team Rocket stood in the center of the field, surrounded by the clone army on all sides.

Yet they were holding their own.

Arcanine Roared and coughed huge bursts of Flamethrower, forcing back any Pokemon who tried getting close. Kabutops threw oddly glowing stones into the crowd, each one targeting a different Pokemon.

Omastar alternated between water moves and ice moves, the water coating the enemy Pokemon and the ice freezing them in place. Lickitung swiped her tongue over any clone that got past Omastar, apparently leaving them paralyzed.

Fearow did aerial support, holding off Pidgeottwo, Pidgeottotwo, Zubattwo, and others. Wheezing and Arbok spat poison into the crowd, teaching the clones all sorts of new unpleasant feelings.

To Pikachu's surprise, even Meowth was getting involved, in a limited fashion. He mostly kept back but occasionally darted in, swiping at the clones that dared inch forward.

"This is more violent than I expected," Ash admitted with a bit of a wince. Right, he hadn't wanted to fight the clones at all.

"It's working though, look! They're in position!" Pikachu pointed with a grin.

"Right." Ash nodded, glancing at Mewtwo with narrowed eyes. The wannabe global overlord seemed entirely focused on the fight in front of him. "I-"

"Got it!" Art popped up next to them with a flash, he held his metal stick above his head proudly. "Right where I left it!"

The flash of light had been noticed. Mewtwo's head whipped toward them and Pikachu cursed.

"Oops." Art shrunk, realizing he'd ruined things. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry something was bound to go wrong eventually." Pidgeotto was unconcerned. "Staryu?" She looked to the seat above them.

"FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA! THE SIGNAL OF VICTORY!" He shot a Psybeam into the air over the field, on the opposite side of the stadium, a second beam met his, the two attacks colliding over the heads of the clones and villains.

"That's our cue!" Meowth shouted and Fearow swooped down, Jessie and James returned their Pokemon in rapid succession, they'd been preparing for this. "So long!"

As Fearow carried them into the air a coin matching the one on his head appeared in Meowth's hand and he tossed it at Mewtwo as they flew by. It bounced off a barrier but got his attention. He swung his arm and charged an attack pointing at them.

But the signal had been for more than that. A line of Pokemon passed the message "Now!" down to the ones digging under the field. Geodude checked that everyone else was out and swung his fist through a support column he'd put in place.

This led to a chain reaction as similar weaker columns collapsed one by one. Overhead the entire field sunk, chunks of earth breaking up and trapping the clones in piles of dirt, some up to their necks.

Even Mewtwo stumbled, not much but enough to throw off his aim so his attack on Team Rocket wasn't a direct hit, instead a glancing blow. The force of the blast still carried them far into the distance.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Their voices echoed as they disappeared with a twinkle.

As the clones struggled to pull themselves out of the ruin of the field, the next phase of the plan started. In the stands, dozens of Pokemon began firing status moves into the army of new Pokemon. Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Confuse Ray, Hypnosis, Supersonic, anything that could leave a Pokemon unable to battle.

Mewtwo whirled watching with growing rage as his army fell. Again and again, his plans had been disrupted as the victims refused to accept their place in his new world. His eyes swept over the stadium seats. He saw all the Pokemon he'd captured now free, and looking down on him and his superior breed.

Mew watched with rapt attention. It was like a show, just when she thought things couldn't get better something new happened! This was great!

As the last status effects petered out, Mewtwo found himself alone facing a stadium filled with angry Pokemon.

Ash swallowed. The easy part was done, now for the hard part.

---

Mewtwo had experienced many forms of rage today.

Frustration, annoyance, murderous intent, and just plain anger.

Oddly enough, as his clones collapsed en masse under the moves of dozens of lesser Pokemon, he felt nothing but calm.

If he had to guess, he had become so angry that he had just come full circle.

That was fine, he was still perfectly capable of k̸̡̳̯̃̊į̸̭̈́͠l̸̘̯̆̄̏l̶̳͛͋͠i̸̘̙̅̌ñ̴͎̰g̵͔͠ ̸͇̹̥̿e̷̘̭̋̿v̵̘̮͇̐̅͂e̵̘͂̈́͘r̵͎̭̾͒̽ÿ̸̫̇͝ ̸͖̊s̶̲͕̭̽̂̔ḯ̵̡̼n̴̙̪̲̂ģ̵̬͖̋̚̚l̴͔̙͎͐͠͝è̷̙͜ ̴̮͇̈̇͂͜o̷̪̘͐n̴͙̠͝ȅ̷̹͙ ̵͇̬͔̃̊o̷̡̬̎̋f̸͈͈͗͛͜ ̵͔̯̀ͅt̴̮̯̄h̵̞̯͋͐̕e̷̫̻̤̾m̸̜̈́̄.

Oh, Mew flinched, she was probably reading his mind then. Still, her reaction was more satisfying than he expected. Which was impressive since he was pretty sure he hated her.

She should stay out of his head.

'No.'

…right time to begin. Mewtwo's eyes glowed with power and he swung his arm toward the part of the arena where he spotted the flash of light that warned him of what was to come. His Psystrike took a chunk out of the seating but he didn't get to bathe in victory for long.

From behind a massive barrage of attacks slammed into his shield. Any one of them would do nothing but the sheer number caused his defensive measure to crack. He turned, putting his attention into reinforcing it.

As he did so more attacks came from ground level. Now coming from the hallway his clones had arrived from. He spared a glance and saw an Onix, Gyarados, Blastoise, and a lot of feathers that closed rapidly.

They passed him, but a series of attacks peppered his shield from above as they flew over. Then as if this wasn't enough more attacks came from behind him again, on the side of the stadium that he'd thought he'd dealt with already.

Mewtwo twisted his head and for a moment glimpsed dark fur mixed with red. Zorua. Was he responsible for this? How? How had he escaped?

'Pretty sure there's a lot of Pokemon responsible for this.' Mew's voice whispered in his mind again. 'Also the clowns.'

He would have responded but he had to put all his attention into maintaining his shield as the unending barrage continued. For a moment, his shield solidified, the cracks vanishing and he let himself relax.

Then it shattered and Mewtwo was properly introduced to pain.

Whatever nirvana of rage he'd reached vanished under the fire of countless attacks. He forgot his plans, his clones, his storm, his grand new world. The only thing that mattered was destroying all the insects who dared defy him.

---

Baby Brother was getting a spanking.

Mew was slightly disappointed she was not the one to deliver it.

She was a bit confused by what was going on though, well, sort of. She knew the theory behind it all but the whole collapsing ground and the clowns flying away and then the attacks raining down? Where had that all come from?

And why had Mewtwo specifically blamed Zorua for all of this?!

All very good questions. Zorua was a dark-type right? Miracle Eye!

Huh, there were two. They were brothers? Oh, one was a new baby, that made sense. She popped over to the older one, who happened to be standing near the baby.

"Zorua!" She greeted him and made him, his new brother, Pikachu, and Charmeleon jump a solid three feet in the air. "Oops! Sorry, didn't mean to scare you, Baby Brother really doesn't like you and he's blaming you."

She scanned his thoughts a bit more. "Oh, you use a nickname? Ash then!"

"Definitely not Aaron." Pikachu shook his head.

"Aaron?" She checked his mind too. "You met my brother! He has a name now? And he didn't tell me!? Sorry I got distracted, what are you doing?"

"Did you just call Mewtwo "Baby Brother?" Ash asked her.

"Human talk? How'd you do that? One of the clowns could do it too actually." She mused, she hadn't thought of that. Were Pokemon speaking human now? She had never bothered to learn before but maybe it could be fun. "And of course I called him Baby Brother, he's my new Baby Brother!"

"Your Baby Brother is trying to destroy the world!" Pikachu snapped, that was rude.

"Yeah, he needs a timeout, I was going to give him a spanking too but you guys seem to have that covered." Her psychic net caught wind of something from Baby Brother. "Actually… uh, you might want to regroup. And maybe back off."

"Back off?" Charmeleon gaped at her. "We can't leave now! If we do he'll just destroy the world!"

"I'm not going to let him do that." Had that not been obvious? "But you guys are kind of in the way. I'd rather not hurt you or the new babies."

"New babies?" The new baby present tilted his head, oh he was adorable too!

Before she could explain the island shook and a dome of deep blue light surrounded Baby Brother. Mew hastily threw up a bubble shield as his attack hit them.

Not everyone was so lucky.

Some Pokemon went flying and crashed in heaps. Others managed to avoid the attack on their own.

Mew moved to step in and deal with Baby Brother herself. She prepared to use a Shadow Ball of her own, but she was blocked by an Onix roaring and slamming his tail down onto Baby Brother's head. She barely managed to adjust her aim so it sailed harmlessly past Onix.

This might be a problem.

---

"Bruteroot!" Corey all but jumped on the Venusaur with a laughing sob. "You're okay!"

"Shellshocker!" Neesha embraced her Blastoise in a hug. "I was worried about you!"

"Blast!" "Saaaur."

Fergus crossed his arms and smiled at Gyarados. "There you are you big lug! What took you so long!" Despite his words, the relief was obvious.

Karen would have loved to greet Graveler, Snover, and the rest, but all her focus was on Misty. She'd managed to get a flash a couple of times. Brief and small, but it had been there. She was on the right track, she just needed to.

A familiar presence traced across her mind and she blinked, losing focus for a moment and glancing next to her, Riolu was there.

"Here to help! What are we doing?"

"Trying to use Aura Healing, I don't suppose it comes naturally to you?" She risked asking.

"Nope! But I can try!"

"I will help as well." Another voice echoed in her mind and she looked to her other side. There was another Riolu.

Karen couldn't stop herself from tensing. "You're not going to punch me are you?"

"I actually feel a nearly irresistible desire to but I am doing my best to ignore it. Let us focus on saving her." Riolutwo was far more eloquent than she expected.

"You two should have a better handle on your aura than I do, but I know the theory behind this, I just can't seem to call it up." She returned her attention to the fading Misty.

"Can you direct ours?" Riolu asked and a glow appeared under his paws.

"I can try."

Brock was torn between staying with his friend or going to help direct the battle. Despite desperately wanting to stay with the girl, he wasn't doing any good here. His decision became final when Geodude erupted from the ground next to him.

"Geodude!" he grinned at his teammate glad to see that he was okay. "Where's Onix, Rhyhorn, and Zubat?"

"Dude!" Geodude pointed across the arena and Brock gaped as Onix slammed his tail on top of Mewtwo. His shock turned to horror as he watched his starter get wrapped in the glow of Psychic and thrown into the stands.

"Come on!" Brock began running around the edge of the field. He saw other Pokemon take direct shots at Mewtwo, Sandslash came at him with Rollout, he saw Pikachu's Thunderbolt hit home, Mystical Fire from Art.

Mewtwo bore the barrage, Brock caught a glimpse of his eyes and it was nearly enough to make him stop running. They were glowing with pure light, and as he watched Mewtwo crossed his arms, black lightning flashed across his form and he threw his arms out.

An invisible force crashed into Brock and Geodude, knocking them to the ground. Mewtwo shot an attack at Pidgeot and flying-type went crashing down with a pained cry. Sandslash was caught in psychic and used as a weapon to hit Nidoqueen.

Despite the combined effort, Mewtwo was still holding his own.

"Geo!" Geodude shouted and rushed past Brock, his fist collided with another nearly identical stone fist.

Geodude and Geodudetwo struggled against each other, Brock pulled himself out of his stupor and gave Geodude a direction. "Bulldoze Geodude!"

His teammate plowed his double into the destroyed ground and into the mess that was the stadium field. He floated back a bit and cracked his knuckles, a satisfied look on his face.

As the former gym leader looked over the ruin of the stadium he saw moving shapes, pulling themselves out of the ground and shaking themselves back to their senses.

The clones were recovering, and they were prepared to defend their master.

---

Across the battlefield, clones began to engage their originals. Not all of them understood why they were doing so, simply that they had to. It was their purpose. Their creator demanded that they fight and so they would.

Wigglytufftwo leaped on Wigglytuff with Body Slam, battering him with Facade. Scythertwo came slashing at Scyther and the two met each other in a flurry of blades. Rapidashtwo raced around the field, searching for her original, not realizing Mewtwo had tossed her aside earlier in the fight.

Gyaradostwo knocked aside his fellow clones, uncaring for the ones who were still unconscious as he charged across the battlefield toward Fergus and his partner. The trainer and Pokemon did not back down and Fergus shouted for Gyrados to use Thunder Fang on his clone.

Corey and Neesha nodded at each other and raced out with their starters, they weren't sure if Blastoisetwo and Venusaurtwo were back on their feet, or if another pair of clones had been made, but they weren't going to sit back and wait for the fight to come to them.

Oddly, not every clone immediately engaged in combat. Admittedly, some were still recovering from their respective status effects, but even some of the ones who were mobile didn't have the desire to fight.

Psyduck and Psyducktwo met and stared at each other. They looked into each other's tired and pained eyes and came to a silent agreement. The pair marched toward each other, turned about, and collapsed, falling asleep with their duplicate at their back.

Umbreontwo and Eve were already working together against Mewtwo. Together they unleashed a double helix of Dark Pulse that crashed into the psychic-type.

Ash saw and was about to join them when he noticed the clones beginning to recover. He'd been so focused on Mewtwo that he hadn't noticed at first. He saw Brock's team rallying to him as they fought their duplicates.

"Come on!" Ash called to his companions and they started rushing across the field to help him. He spotted the other trainers battling with their own teammates but he didn't see Misty or Karen. Where were they? He hoped they had a plan of their own.

Unfortunately, Ash's race across the battlefield caught Mewtwo's attention. While truthfully he did not know if Zorua was responsible for this entire mess, he had encouraged it, his actions and words had inspired rebellion against his plan.

Even if he hadn't devised this united front against Mewtwo, he was the one it all traced back to.

Miracle Eye flashed again and he swung his arm forward with Psytrike in his palm. He smirked as Zorua flinched and turned back, sensing his presence once more. He turned just in time to see his attack coming.

Ash screamed in pain as he went flying through the air. He'd never experienced psychic-type attacks before today and he did not enjoy the feeling. He collapsed in a heap, flickering in and out of consciousness.

Mewtwo casually tossed aside the dual forces of Ninetales and Hitmonlee. The two Pokemon went flying away. He'd lost track of Mew in this mess, that was fine, he would destroy her at his leisure.

'You talk about destroying things too much.'

He couldn't wait until she was dead.

As he approached Zorua intent on finishing the job his path was blocked. Amusement and anger warred within him as Zorua's so-called team stood in defense of their trainer.

'You think you can stop me?' He asked them, a cruel idea formed in his mind. 'I have a proposal, step aside and I will spare you. Allow me to kill the creature you wrongly placed your faith in, and I will allow you to live. Even as I destroy all other life.'

The Pikachu sparked with electricity. "Who do you think you are? We're the greatest Pokemon Team in the world, and that's our trainer."

Lightning engulfed him in a golden cocoon and he raced at Mewtwo. Umbreon fired another Dark Pulse at him, Ralts and Charmeleon unleashed Mystical Fire and Flamethrower.

With a thought, a shield halted the attacks and caught Pikachu as he collided. Mewtwo held up a hand and flicked the electric-type sending him flying into the brawl behind him. Cranidos tried to come at him with a Headbutt from one side while Wartortle came at him from the other spinning.

Clefable threw her hands up and a facsimile of the moon appeared, casting a powerful beam down on him. He waved his hand and redirected the attack into Wartortle, using Psychic to catch Cranidos in his tracks and send him hurdling toward Umbreon.

He snapped his fingers and Ralts and Charmeleon slammed into each other with a crunch. He pushed down with the same hand and Clefable was forced into the ground by his unfathomable might.

With a smile, he looked at the last Pokemon standing. 'Considering my offer?' He asked as Pidgeotto trembled.

She flapped her wings and flew into the air. Mewtwo finally settled on amusement. It seems loyalty only went so far. 'Run away Pidgeotto.' He laughed and turned to Zorua.

"EXCUSE YOU!" A screech echoed over his head and he looked back up.

Pidgeotto was afraid. She was terrified. There was a part of her that kept growing louder telling her to run, fly far away, never look back, and pray Mewtwo kept his word.

She violently strangled that traitorous whisper and buried it in ashes.

More than she was scared, she was angry.

Her? Run away? Who did this lunatic think he was? She had faced down giants and volcanos and more! She had fought Pokemon far larger and stronger than her time and again and came out the victor!

So what if her father had fallen to this monster? Forget him! He was a deadbeat lost in his own regrets. She was Pidgeotto, Ash was her trainer, and she refused to abandon him.

No. Not Pidgeotto. If there was ever a time to do it, this was it.

"MY!" A white glow surrounded her and she shot down. Finally, she got to show off Sky Attack, with all the twists she made to it. She knew the recoil was coming but all that mattered was putting everything she had into this.

"NAME!" Seconds turned to minutes as she used Quick Attack for more speed, she turned her wings to metal with Steel Wing. Her beak turned razor sharp as she reinforced it with Peck.

"IS!" She saw Mewtwo narrow his eyes and raise his hand. The air shimmered around him as he formed another defensive barrier.

With a clap of thunder, she hit the shield. The sound echoed across the stadium over the other sounds of battle. For a moment dozens of Pokemon turned to see what the sound had been. Many were forced to squint and shield their eyes as a new sun appeared in the midst of the field.

A crack split the world and the newborn star slammed into the would-be god. A name followed it, somehow seeming louder than either of the sounds before it.

"MORNINGSTAR!"

Mewtwo coughed blood. After all the attacks he'd taken he thought he knew pain. This beat them. This hurt more than them. His organs ruptured and his bones shattered under sheer simple kinetic force.

He hit the ground and saw the Pokemon who did this to him regain altitude. The light finally faded, her accursed name ringing in his ears.

Morningstar the Pidgeot glared down at him, having outdone her father, her teammates, and everyone else.

At last, Mew saw her chance.

"Come on." She appeared over Mewtwo and grabbed him, rocketing them both into the air past Morningstar.

---

"That was more impressive than I expected," Pikachu admitted, coming to his feet with a wince and staring at his oldest teammate. Or second oldest depending on your point of view.

He shook himself, be impressed later, help Ash and the others first. He had been thrown back into the main hall. Bags and other items had been left here, ignoring most of them he sprinted toward Ash's bag, doing his best to ignore the pain shooting up his leg.

Pikachu rifled through it, drawing out as many potions as he could carry. He pointed one at his leg and braced himself for the sting. He tested his healed limb, then grabbed the others and ran back toward Ash and the others.

A sight gave him pause as he passed. Karen and both Riolu were hunched over an unmoving shape. He adjusted his path to get a closer look and nearly stopped entirely when he saw Misty looking very still.

Snover had joined her trainer and saw Pikachu. "Go! They're making progress, don't distract them!"

Hoping the other Pokemon was right he maintained his path and came upon Ash and the others. "Morningstar" was circling them, firing Twister or Gust at any of the clones who tried to come close.

First came Ash, as the potion did its work and he blinked awake Pikachu moved on, targeting the most injured first. Art and Sunny managed to come to their feet on their own while he worked.

"That was so cool!" Art squealed looking at Morningstar as she came for a landing. "I mean, I didn't see the whole thing but I heard it! He was all like, "Heh, run away coward" and for a second it looked like you were but you were just winding up to hit him really hard and went all "Say my name!"

"Waiting for the right moment huh?" Eve recalled a conversation from months ago. "Yeah, I guess this was it."

"Couldn't have planned it better myself." She puffed out her chest a bit. "But the battle's not over yet, most of the other flyers were taken out already, I'll see what I can do about their clones."

"Thanks Pidg- Morningstar." Ash corrected himself, still a bit unsteady on his feet. "I don't know where Mew and Mewtwo went, but since the pressure isn't gone I think he's still here."

"The storm is still there too." Cranidos looked up. "How is he doing this? We've hit him with everything we have!"

Ash looked at Pikachu and the electric-type saw the same worry mirrored in his best friend's eyes. "Let's do whatever we can. Try to find your clones, see if you can talk them down, I wish we didn't have to fight them but it looks like we're past that."

He looked around. "Where are Zoruatwo, Umbreontwo, and Riolutwo?" He asked.

Zoruatwo had been with them but when Mewtwo had used Miracle Eye the sudden pressure of the psychic-type had disturbed him more than Ash. He'd stumbled and lost his footing on the ruined terrain of the battlefield.

He'd used Dig to get out but when he'd seen Mewtwo attacking Ash's team he hadn't known what to do, so he'd gone to get Umbreontwo and anyone else he could find.

The two now arrived with more help. "Where did the villainous cur go?" Staryu demanded.

"Mew took him, we still have the clones to worry about." Storm summarized.

"I haven't seen Blastoisetwo but Wartortletwo and Squirtletwo were still in the pit last I checked." Squirtle pointed. "We should probably make sure they stay there."

The group began to split to seek out their doubles. Zoruatwo shifted with watery eyes. "I'm sorry I ran! I didn't know what to do! We hit him before but it didn't seem to hurt him and he felt so strong! I'm sorry!"

Pikachu smirked and sent Ash a knowing look. "Hmm, guess something runs in the family."

Ash rolled his eyes. "Zoruatwo, I don't blame you, you did the right thing. You're not used to battles and I'm sorry this is your first, it's not exactly a fun one. Why don't you go find Karen and Misty, and see if they need help!"

The Zorua snickered even as Pikachu swallowed, trying to figure out how to explain. "Karen is gonna go nuts when she sees you! Maybe not so much Umbreontwo though."

"Karen is a bit preoccupied." Pikachu started, trying not to alarm Ash. "She's with Riolu and Riolutwo trying to uh, heal Misty."

Ash's gaze laser-focused on him with an intensity Pikachu hadn't often seen. "I don't know what happened, but they're focused! We shouldn't get in their way!" He held up his paws in a placating gesture.

His friend closed his eyes for a moment. "Right, in that case, you two shouldn't go over there, distracting them might not be a good thing. How about you go with Sunny and Art? Maybe you can help talk down some of the other clones."

"Sounds like a plan!" Umbreontwo saluted and Zoruatwo hesitated for a moment.

"I trust you, just stay with Sunny and Art, you'll be fine,"Ash told his new brother, and the pair followed his teammates.

"Now that they won't distract Karen you want to go and distract Karen right?" Pikachu checked, knowing Ash a little too well.

"No!" Ash protested. "I don't want to distract her, but we can make sure no one else gets in their way."

"And you're worried about Misty." Pikachu followed as they started back across the field. They didn't get far though.

A Thunder Bolt struck the ground in front of them, forcing the pair to jump back. They looked to the source and Pikachu chuckled ruefully. "Oh, this will be interesting."

Pikachutwo glared down at them, perched on a jagged piece of rubble that rose above most of the field. "Time to prove myself. You're weak!" The other Pikachu sneered down at him.

"Not interested in talking then?" Ash tried and another bolt of lightning made him jump back.

"Don't interupt us!"

"Together? "Ash and Pikachu nodded at each other.

They played by their own rules.

There was no time to discuss a plan as Pikachutwo jumped at them, his tail shimmering with steel as he tried to slam Iron Tail into his original.

Pikachu slipped to the side with Quick Attack and Ash kicked the clone toward him with Revenge. A second Quick Attack sent his double into the dirt.

The clone slammed his fist into the ground and used Dig, burrowing beneath them. The ground shook under him a bit and Pikachu jumped up, Ash used Night Daze and the attack expanded under him, colliding with Pikachutwo just as he emerged.

Coming back down Pikachu used Grass Knot tripping his clone up and forcing him to use Iron Tail again to cut himself free. Both he and Ash had to jump back to avoid a Discharge though.

Pikachu used Iron tail himself and Ash shimmered, turning into a Joltik and jumping on his tail, Pikachu swung it, slightly damaging Ash as he launched, breaking the illusion and charging up another Revenge that crashed into Pikachutwo with magnificent force.

His clone took another tumble and tried struggling to his feet again. "This isn't fair! You're too weak on your own so you need help!"

"I think you're missing the point." Pikachu couldn't decide if he pitied his clone or not. "I'm pretty strong on my own, but with Ash? We're unstoppable."

While not everyone had quite so high an opinion of themselves, a similar sentiment echoed across the arena. Brock and the rest of his team had rallied around Onix's form as their clones came for a fight.

Onixtwo was more than willing to attack his original despite already being knocked out but Brock had other ideas. The clones were fighting on their own, even when they were theoretically a group. Rhyhorn and Geodude worked together to take down Onixtwo while Zubat flew around his head, using Screech and Supersonic.

Corey and Bruteroot gathered their teammates and recovered the injured ones, Venusaurtwo didn't arrive for round two but the rest of his team's clones tried to pick fights. Rather than squaring off individually the team worked together to take down each clone before moving on to the next.

Fergus knew better than most how dangerous an angry Gyarados could be, rather than try to join the main brawl, he had gathered what teammates he could to lead Gyaradostwo away. His worry proved right when a Hyper Beam nearly bisected the tower over their heads.

But under the combined efforts of his whole team, the monstrous clone found himself on the losing side.

Not everyone's interaction proved so one-sided though, Blastoisetwo had recovered and decided to come back for a second go. Instead of targeting Shellshocker though, he took a page out of his creator's book, targeting Neesha's other Pokemon in a misguided effort to prove himself.

Yet not every clone was ready to fight, some like Psyducktwo simply did not have the desire nor energy to.

Meowthtwo had decided early on he wasn't interested in a battle, and slipped into the main hall and curled up in some trainer's bag for a cat nap.

Dewgongtwo had tried confronting her original but felt reluctant to fight for reasons she couldn't speak to. She knew she was supposed to fight, it's what she was told to do, it's what she was made to, right?

But when Blastoisetwo plowed through and pummeled the original Dewgong, Dewgongtwo felt something inside her twist in distaste.

A Protect burst to life between Blastoisetwo and his target, infuriated he turned to his fellow clone and cursed her. "Traitor!"

"I don't know what side I'm on." She admitted. "But this battle isn't right."

The interactions between clone Pokemon and ordinary Pokemon proved to be the cornerstone of the entire battle. Some went better than others, but regardless they measured what kind of world existed now, and the shape of the one Mewtwo desired.

Many of his own creations discovered they did not like that shape.

Raltstwo looked around at the battlefield with horror. As he watched other Pokemon beat each other into the dirt he flinched and looked at his hands. Was that what he was supposed to be doing? He didn't want to hurt anyone, and he didn't want them to hurt him either!

Was this all he existed for? Fighting when he didn't want to?

"Hey!" he yelped when someone spoke up behind him. He whirled and found himself confronted by Art, Sunny, Zoruatwo, and Umbreontwo. "You're fake me right?"

"I don't want to be a fake." Raltstwo started tearing up a little, "And I don't want to fight."

"WHAT?" Art was horrified. "What do you mean you don't want to fight? Do you think you're too good to fight me?!"

"No!" Raltstwo shook his hands. "No, I don't! I just don't want to hurt anyone! I don't want to get hurt! This doesn't feel right! I don't like it."

"But I want to fight you though!" Art whined, slumping with disappointment.

"Didn't Ash tell us to try talking to them first?" Zoruatwo checked.

"He did, don't worry Raltstwo, you're not a fake, Art just gets a bit excited." Sunny calmed down the clone a bit.

"I want to fight my evil clone. Why do so many people get an evil clone but not me?" Art grumbled, kicking at the dirt.

Sunny looked over his head. "Do you want mine?" He pointed and the others followed his gaze to the charging Charmeleontwo.

Art grinned. "He'll do." He raised his wand and fired Psybeam.

Selene ducked under the flying fire-type as Clefabletwo approached her. She hoped Sunny and the others could handle him, but she had her own double to debate.

"In the name of the Moon, you have to stop this!" Selene told Clefabletwo. "Mewtwo is evil and wants to destroy the world, you don't have to help him!"

"Hm, I'd rather the world not be destroyed." Clefabletwo decided but still scoffed at Selene. "But in the name of the Moon? Are you joking? The moon is nothing but a ball of space rock, its light is just the sun reflecting off it!"

"What's the supposed to mean?" Selene narrowed her eyes.

"That you should be worshipping the sun if you think about it."

"You take that back."

"Make me." The two fairy-types launched into combat.

Cranidos saw the battle between the paragons of celestial bodies and moved to help, but his way was blocked by an unfamiliar face!

"No more interruptions! Now I can destroy the original!" Oh, it was his face, he hadn't had a chance to get a good look at it before.

Also, he should probably correct him. "I'm not the original."

That gave Cranidostwo pause and he straightened, no longer preparing to charge. "Master created you too? Where's the original?"

"No, he didn't create me and yeah you were cloned from me, but I'm not the original Cranidos." Cranidos began explaining.

"...what?"

"So, uh, look I was born like yesterday… then again you were born today." Cranidos struggled to get his facts straight. "I was created from a fossil of the original Cranidos, so I'm a clone too, just not a clone made by Mewtwo, and if you're a clone of me, that means we're both clones of the original Cranidos, who was a rock for the past few million years."

"Does that mean I cannot fulfill my purpose?" Cranidostwo started to tear up and Cranidos panicked. He quickly moved to comfort his… brother? Ash had adopted Zoruatwo pretty quickly.

"Maybe we could find what's left of the fossil and break that? Would that make you feel better?" Cranidos wasn't sure what had happened to the rest of the rock.

"A little?" Cranidostwo sniffed. "Could we go back in time and destroy him?"

"But what happens to us then?"

"He had to become a fossil at some point."

"Huh." He hadn't thought of that. "Good point!" A bright flash of purple light made him squint and look at another pair of dueling Pokemon.

"You serve a villainous fiend, a being of true malice and evil intent." Staryu stood face to face with his dark reflection.

"From my point of view, he is a visionary, one who will lead us into a glorious new age!" Staryutwo responded, defending his lord.

"Your point of view is flawed! He will lead you to a world where the only rule is might makes right, he does not know the joys of comradery and friendship!" Staryu pointed at his nemesis.

"What is comradery?" Staryutwo dropped the act for a moment. "Sorry, I'm not sure how to respond to that."

"Oh comradery is another word for trust among friends, I was just using a synonym to help emphasize my point," Staryu explained.

"Ah thank you, do synonyms often improve the flow of dialogue?" Staryutwo asked, taking mental note.

"In my experience at least, do you want to discuss further after?" Staryu asked.

"Certainly! I'm fairly sure being on the "evil" side means I'll be losing, but this is still a lot of fun." Staryutwo nodded.

"Indeed! Now where were we?"

Dratini rolled her eyes at the dorks. Of course, Staryu's clone would be just as weird as he was. She should probably find Misty or her own clone. Both would be good.

Unfortunately, her clone found her before she got a chance. She let out a very undignified squeak as another Dratini wrapped around her. Dratinitwo had a few spots on her back which Dratini was able to get a good few of as she squeezed her.

"Hi!" Dratinitwo greeted her. "Master says I have to destroy you. But I think this is better. I don't know why. Squeezing is fun! Is there a name for this?"

"Stop hugging me!" Dratini tried to slither out of her clone's grip.

"Hugs! I like hugs. Do hugs destroy people? That would be perfect if they did. But I think I'm okay with it if they don't."

"STARMIE HELP!"

Over their heads, Morningstar relished her new strength and speed. She thought she was good before, and she was, but now? Now she was untouchable!

Pidgeottotwo had tried outflanking her but she easily flew circles around her clone and intimidated her into backing off. Pidgeottwo tried his luck but while his stamina was impressive his speed was laughable at best.

She was the queen of the sky, and everyone else had better start bowing.

But far over even her head, two more powerful forces remained.

---

Mew had rushed toward the sky. First things first, she had to stop the storm. It was a miracle Rayquaza hadn't come over to find out what was going on yet! If she got involved things were bound to get real messy.

So when she grabbed Baby Brother she shot into the sky. She would use Sunny Day once they were over the clouds. In her experience, it was easier to clear a big storm like this when you were over it. Especially at night.

Then she would teleport Baby Brother to the lake, it should be able to heal all his owies, while he was getting better she could get the rest of their siblings and they could get down to convincing Baby Brother that killing everyone was bad.

She couldn't fathom why he hadn't figured that out on his own.

Just as they reached cloud level she felt Baby Brother start to stir. That was fine, she'd just use… when did he learn that?

Perhaps he had always known it and just never needed to use it, maybe he had picked it up from one of his new babies, or maybe by opening the doors to her own mind to get into his she had left some of her knowledge open to him.

Regardless of the source, Baby Brother snapped back to consciousness and wrenched himself from her psychic grasp, as he fell he glowed green with the light of Recover.

'LET ME GO!' His voice shook Mew's mind and a wall of pure energy slammed into her and threw her into the storm, she ducked between bolts of lightning and Baby Brother followed her.

They were above the rainfall but between the top layer of clouds and the lower. Lightning formed pillars of light around them and thunder rumbled everywhere.

'WHY?' She could feel the raw emotion in the single word and it hurt more than his next attack did. The Mew Fight resumed and while Baby Brother was exhausted, made worse by his use of Recover, he had all but gone feral.

Abandoning the spoken word, not that he'd be able to hear her with the noise of their attacks and the thunder, she turned to telepathy. 'Shut up, and let me help you already!' Iron Tail swung into his torso but he used her tail as rope and swung her away.

'STOP TREATING ME LIKE A TOY!' That gave her pause and left her open to Night Shade, a massive image of his screaming face filled her vision for a moment and sent her spiraling into a lightning strike.

'I never-' She didn't get to finish as the floodgates opened in Baby Brother- Mewtwo's mind.

'I SAW YOU IN MY DREAMS!' He threw out, the very dreams she had given him when he was in his tube. 'VISIONS OF A WORLD I WASN'T PART OF! REMINDING ME WHAT I COULD NEVER BE!'

Underneath all the rage, hatred, and cruel bluster, he was scared, and he was alone.

'SO WHY WAS I MADE? WHY AM I NOTHING BUT AN OBJECT?' He demanded, tears pouring down his face as he continued to throw attacks at her. 'USED FOR THE AMUSEMENT OF OTHERS?'

'AM I JUST A SCIENCE EXPERIMENT?' Twin Shadow Balls and Aura Spheres narrowly missed her.

'A TOOL FOR HUMANS TO GAIN POWER?' Not a proper attack just him throwing himself at her in a ball of psychic energy.

'A SLAVE FOR THEIR GOALS?' Psystrike this time, his attacks seemed to be growing weaker.

'AND YOU!' Despite what she thought, the next attack was greater than anything he'd done before. Shadow Ball, Aura Sphere, Energy Ball, and Electro Ball came together in a technicolor nightmare over his head.

'BABY BROTHER, BABY BROTHER! I'M JUST A PASSING AMUSEMENT FOR YOU AREN'T I? YOU DIDN'T COME BECAUSE YOU CARED FOR THE WORLD, OR ME, OR ANYTHING, YOU CAME FOR A NEW PLAYTHING!' He accused her and Swift stars swirled around the Nightmare Orb as he hurled it.

She tried to avoid it but it homed in on her, she even teleported away but it instantly changed course and slammed into her.

That one hurt.

Mew fell from the sky, dropping below the cloud line and into the storm. She righted herself before hitting the ocean and flew toward the psychic signatures that marked B- Mewtwo's Castle.

She'd messed up. She'd messed up badly.

All this could have been avoided if she had taken a closer look at things when she found him.

How was she supposed to know it was complicated? That wasn't an excuse, she shouldn't be making excuses. She needed to fix things, Mewtwo needed to know he was a Mew too.

No, don't laugh, not now.

She felt him following her. She sped forward, desperate to arrive first. Just a quick scan showed things were slowing down, most of the fighting had calmed down but it wasn't over. What could she do? How could she convince them all to stop fighting?

How did she talk Mewtwo down?

Whatever the answer was she never reached it, he collided with her over the courtyard and wrapped his hand around her neck. She gagged, not used to being a victim of such a simple physical attack.

His rage-filled eyes bore into her as he hurled her into one of the towers with enough force to tear a hole straight through it. The structure collapsed as she came back around and Mewtwo came down for another attack.

Mew wasn't attacking anymore, she was weary now. Mentally, at least. She didn't want to make this any worse than it already was.

What she needed to do, was put him to sleep. If she knocked him out he would remember that. It would always be a point of contention, knowing she was "better" than him in his mind. If she could just get him with Hypnosis or Sleep Powder or something!

This was her fault, and she needed to fix it. This fight had to stop and she should not prolong it.

The Pokemon in the field below came to a similar conclusion but had a very different method for doing so.

One by one the clones either surrendered or were knocked out. The trainers began to regroup near the center of the field with their teams.

"Ash!" Brock was relieved to see his friend. "How-" He paused, noticing that Ash's legs had some odd markings on them. "Wait."

"Brock!" Another Ash came running over with Pikachu and two Umbreon. "How's Onix? And what happened to Misty?! She's hurt and I didn't want to distract Karen to ask."

"That crazy kid swung a sword at Mewtwo!" Corey answered shaking his head. "She's got guts! I thought Mewtwo was going to show them to us for a second!"

"Is she okay?" Neesha asked, her team had finally managed to deal with the nightmare of Blastoisetwo.

"She's breathing steadier now." Ash stood next to the other Ash and Brock realized what he was looking at. "Oh, Brock! This is my new brother."

"Zor!" Zoruatwo waved a paw at him.

"I'm sure there's a reason he's not helping Mewtwo but that's a question for later." The teenager shook his head. "Where'd he go?"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu answered and Ash translated.

"Mew grabbed him and they flew into the sky, I don't know where-" A crash and rumbling interrupted him and they looked to the source. One of the towers began collapsing on itself a small pink shape flew around it only to be struck by a large ball of light from above.

"Think we found him." Fergus clenched his fist. "How about we end this?"

"Were you watching before?" Corey demanded. "Did you not see all of them attacking him at once? It barely did anything!"

"He's got to be slowing down now!" Neesha insisted, looking between the others. "Ash- you are Ash, right? Today's been weird."

"Pretty sure." He nodded. "And yeah, dark-type moves? We can try at least!"

"If we can do a little damage it might turn to the tables." Neesha rationalized. "I'm not sure how good your aim is but if you can hit him with Dark Pulse it might get his attention off Mew!"

"Are we going to talk about that?" Fergus muttered, half to himself.

"Right, come on!" He gestured to Zoruatwo, Eve, and Umbreontwo. "Together!"

The quartet put some distance between them and the others just in case they got too much of Mewtwo's attention. As they moved Ash had an idea. "Selene! Set up!"

"Cle-fable!" She agreed and shimmering barriers of Light Screen and Reflect shimmered over the heads of the dark-types.

Mew was still looking for an opening. When a Dark Pulse caught the near-feral Mewtwo in the back she got it.

He didn't turn to the source at first, his fury still directed solely on Mew, but when the second one hit he turned just in time for two more to hit him in the face.

Seeing her chance, Mew shot forward, materializing the spores in her mouth. She flicked her tail across Mewtwo's face as he searched the ground for his attackers.

Her brother, and hewould learn that he was her brother and not a toy, turned back to her just to get a faceful of Sleep Powder coughed onto him.

He wretched and started hacking, rubbing at his face. But the substance did its work. She felt his thoughts become sluggish and his mind began to fade from consciousness.

Mew caught him with Psychic as he drifted toward the ground and gently lay him in the center of the battlefield, the ruin of his misguided goals all around them.

As he lay there Mew sent him another dream, with a bit more work put into it. Not just vague images and ideas, she owed him more than that. He was her responsibility now, and she had to take it up.

The other Pokemon and their humans gathered around them and Mew didn't need psychic empathy to know they were angry. Mewtwo probably did deserve a timeout, but if he did then Mew needed one too for letting things get to this point.

Over their heads, the storm finally began to disperse, and the stars twinkled down on the ruined castle.

---

Mewtwo looked around the void, where was he? How had he got here? What-

"Hi, Mewtwo." He turned to Mew and the void gained a form. They were floating over a forest, his mind was tickled with passing images from past dreams. But this was clearer, more solid, more real.

He almost struck again but her tone gave him pause. No more was it mocking and teasing, none of her disgusting pleasure at the joke of his existence. She sounded… tired.

"I'm sorry," Mew spoke before he could demand an answer. "I owe you some explanations. And I figured this was the best way to start."

As the edges of the dreamscape expanded he saw a mountain take form behind Mew, waterfalls pouring down. Three shapes appeared below Mew, two pink and one blue.

"I guess I should start from the beginning." Mew tried to perk up a bit, the other three Mew circling Mewtwo, curiosity in their eyes. "Welcome to the world of Pokemon."

---

Absol's headache vanished and she collapsed in a relieved heap. "Oh thank the Moon!"

"Thank the Moon?" Chewie shot her an amused look. "Have you been spending too much time around Selene?"

"Guys! I think the rain's slowing down!" Chou shouted from the front of the lab, near the boarded-up windows. Some of the sleeping humans and Pokemon stirred at her cry.

"I had to thank someone, and I sure as heck can't thank myself!" Absol claimed, basking in the feeling of her Disaster Sense not going haywire.

"Is it over?" Pie asked, separating from Delia's sleeping form and coming over to her.

"I think so, at the very least we're not in danger from the storm anymore." Some minor disasters were popping into her head now, but no more death and destruction at least. "I'd like at least a week before the next mega-disaster please."

"Wow, a whole week?" Chewie snickered, she had a few similarities to the Pikachu she knew, on the surface at least. "Being a bit greedy aren't you?"

"I don't know." Gary's Kingler shuffled over. "I don't think it's too much to ask for a few days off without something terrible happening."

"I think I'm going to sleep now. Wake me up when Karen gets back." Absol sorted through her senses and made sure she did not have a "leftover" headache again. "And tell Ash he's nuts."

"I thought he was a Zorua?" Pie asked as Absol let sleep take her.

---

Misty woke up.

She hadn't expected that. Not to say she wasn't happy about it.

"YES!" She winced at the scream from Karen. "TAKE THAT DAD- I MEAN AURA POWERS!"

"What-" Misty tried sitting up but felt her bones and muscles protest. "What the heck, ow, that hurts."

"Ri, riolu rilu." Riolu explained, raising a single paw with his eyes closed.

"Ri! Ri ri riolu!" Other Riolu had both paws up and bounced on his toes.

Misty looked between them and noticed the difference in the markings around the eyes. "How many of our Pokemon got cloned?" She asked.

"Don't know but if I had to guess?" Karen looked over the field heaving a sigh. "I think it's over now at least."

"Sno-snover!" Snover waved her arms and pointed at the crowd gathered in the center of the field.

"Right, come on kid." Karen grabbed Misty's arm and helped her to her feet, steadying her as she stumbled. "Let's find out what's going on."

They approached the crowd hearing raised voices as they got closer. The words soon became clearer.

"-him go? Are you insane? After everything he did? I'd say lock him but I doubt any prison could hold him!" Neesha was yelling.

"I have to agree." Fergus had his arms crossed. "Put him down. Even if he failed, he still tried what's to stop him from doing it again?"

"Mew obviously." Ash's voice replied. "Look, I'm not saying trust him, I sure don't but trust Mew at least. She says she can handle him."

"Not to beat a dead Rapidash but if this is what handling it looks like." Corey waved his arms at the destruction around them. "I don't think that's reliable. I don't like it either, as bad as he was killing him feels wrong, but I don't see another good option."

"Maybe there are ways to contain a psychic-type? We should at least try the Rangers." Brock suggested as some of the Pokemon parted to let the girls and Karen's Pokemon through.

"That's fair." Corey settled into the middle ground. "How's that? We see if there is a way before we go too far."

"Too far?" Neesha pointed at the sky. "Did you miss what he tried? Did you see what he did to Misty?"

"A bit too closely." She couldn't stop herself from snarking and the group turned to her and Karen. "I lived losers."

"MISTY!" Her team along with Ash and his immediately swarmed her.

"You're okay!" Ash flashed into his illusion and wrapped her in a full hug. She felt the other Pokemon wrap hugs around her legs and Dratini slithered up to tie the hug together.

"Ow, bit too tight Ash. I'm glad you're okay too." She managed to reach an arm up and pat his back. "Considering the last time I saw you, you were being kidnapped. Again."

"Speaking of, how many times does that make?" Karen was content to step back and watch this happen. "And-" She cut off and stared at something behind Ash.

"Oh!" Ash managed to pry himself from Misty and Dratini. "Let me introduce you guys!" He scooped up a fluffy black and red shape. "This is my brother, Zoruatwo!"

"Zor!" He waved a paw at them.

Karen slowly raised her arm, Pokeball in hand and Brock discreetly pushed it down.

"Right." Misty stared at familiar-looking eyes that still had a different light to them. "Nice to meet you Zoruatwo." She tried, not sure how to feel about the situation. "Who else has siblings I need to meet?"

"Nemesis in my case actually." Staryu volunteered and she saw another Staryu step up next to him. This new Staryu had small gold tips to his arms.

"That sounds like a sibling." She saw a second Dratini sneak up on hers and wrap her in a hug. ...I feel like this is going to get confusing and complicated." She guessed and turned to the center of the group, "So what happened to… oh."

Mewtwo was lying between them, he was scuffed and a bit bruised, and there was a steady rise and fall to his chest, he was still alive. Floating over his unconscious form was a Pokemon she'd never seen in person before.

"Did I mention Mew?" Karen checked. "She's the one who saved you by the way. And the rest of us too."

"Be that as it may." Neesha had her arms crossed and got their attention. "I appreciate the save Mew, but you haven't exactly won me over. How do we know you can keep Mewtwo under control?"

It wasn't hard for Misty to put together what they were talking about. Now that Mewtwo had been stopped they were trying to figure out what to do with him. Evidently, Mew wanted to take him and deal with him herself. But it sounded like at least some of the others wanted a more permanent solution.

Misty wasn't exactly opposed to that. That probably had something to do with the fact he had been mocking her, reminding her of her helplessness right after taking away most of the people she cared about.

Oh yeah, and then he tried to kill her.

"Mew! Mew Meeew!" Mew waved her tail around and drew some pictures with it, the group turned to Ash for translation.

"She says she's going to get her siblings involved. All three of them. Mewtwo is the first new Mew in… ever. She's sorry she didn't take proper responsibility before but she promises not to let it happen again."

"That sounds nice and all, but what happens if he tries something again?" Neesha asked. "I'm sure four Mew could stop him but how much damage could he do before they did?"

"Mew." She lashed her tail.

"She says it won't come to that." Ash looked down at Mewtwo, frowning. No doubt he was wondering where he fell in this debate.

"Hearing a lot of promises," Fergus grumbled. "I say forget talk, that freak was right about something. Actions speak louder than words!"

Sounds of agreement came from a good chunk of the surrounding Pokemon.

Before the argument could truly begin again, Mewtwo stirred. Misty found herself reaching for her sword only to grasp empty air. Shoot, what had happened to it? Had Mewtwo broken it when she attacked him? It was all a bit of a blur.

Staryu, Starmie, and Ash stood in front of her protectively. How very gallant of them, but given the circumstances, she appreciated it. Misty would rather not get blasted again.

Mew glowed for a second and a pink bubble appeared around her and Mewtwo. Whether that was for his protection or theirs remained to be seen.

---

Ash was not sure what to expect when Mewtwo sat up. The psychic-type's hand reached for his head, clutching for a moment. '...I see.' He finally said and looked at Mew.

'You have much to answer for.' He told her with narrowed eyes.

"So do you." She answered and after a tense moment, he nodded.

For a moment, a ridiculous one, Ash didn't see Mewtwo, the monster of a Pokemon who had hurt Professor Oak, worked with Team Rocket, and threatened him and everything he loved.

He saw a tired Pokemon left alone on a rock.

The image faded and Ash spoke up, "How do you feel?"

Mewtwo didn't look at him immediately, but he did start chuckling. Unlike before there was no sadistic glee, simply pure amusement and bewilderment. 'How do I feel? After everything, is that all you have to say?'

"I could say lot a more than-" Neesha put her hand up in front of Fergus, she glanced at him and shook her head. Ash nodded thanks, despite disagreeing he appreciated her allowing him the chance to talk.

"What else could I say?" Ash looked down at Zoruatwo and smiled softly. "I don't know what to think of you. I thought I hated you. I… I still think I might. But I don't know how much."

'Hm.' Mewtwo looked over the crowd around him and slowly rose, making no sudden movements. 'If you still hated me, would you attempt to strike me as you did before?'

"It didn't work last time." Ash chuckled a bit. "What do you want to do now?"

'Want?' Mewtwo stared at him, pure confusion in his eyes. 'What do I want to do? I don't imagine I will ever be allowed to do anything I want again after this.'

"I did not say that." Mew protested. "I said we needed to settle some things and work it all out."

'There was much information in that dream.' Mewtwo looked down. 'I… misjudged the scale of this world. Even when proof of my ignorance stared me in the face I continued blindly ahead.'

His gaze briefly turned to Corey and Bruteroot, then Neesha and Shellshocker. 'Even now, many of you wish my death. By all rights, I would deserve it. I struck against the ones who wronged me but it was not enough. I took my revenge on them but still felt rage. So I expanded my revenge. And now all I have is more who would seek it.'

Misty shifted behind Ash. "Is that all it really was? Just revenge? All that talk about how worthless we all were?"

'Truthfully, yes.' Mewtwo looked at her. 'Misty. You stood up to me, defended yourself and your friends, and for that reason alone I saw fit to execute you.'

Ash tensed, anger bubbling in him. How dare he? He forced it down, trying to stay calm. "So you wanted to hurt people before because you got hurt. That's not an excuse you know."

'No. It is not.' Mewtwo looked up at the stars and moon above. 'I am sorry.'

Some of the Pokemon shifted. None of them had expected an apology. Ash didn't want to forgive him, but he still wanted an answer. "You never said, what do you want?"

'...I want to learn.' Mewtwo finally said. 'And I want to have a place in this world.'

"Why didn't you have one already?" Ash asked him.

'I am an artificial creation, I am not truly born of this world, and therefore I have no place in it. Despite Mew's insistence, there is one fact she cannot refute.' he looked at her and she turned away. 'Her Father created four Mew at the beginning of all things. By my very nature, I should not exist.'

"But you do!" Sunny was the one to speak up. "You're right there! It doesn't matter whether you should or not!"

Ash nodded along, agreeing with Sunny's words, "What's it matter where you were born or how? Misty was born in a hospital! I was born in a box! You were born in a lab, so what? You're not the first, and you've surrounded yourself with living proof you're not the last!"

As he spoke he used one arm to gesture at all the clones around them. Some of the ones who had been defeated had been recovering and had joined to watch the trial of their creator, and in a way, themselves. "Look at all these Pokemon! Look at Zoruatwo! Look at Staryutwo! Look at Charizardtwo! You made them! For everything wrong you did you gave them life! They get to exist too now!"

"I…" he was surprised by how choked up he got. He drew on a memory of a memory to fuel him. "I remember thinking I was going to die. I was ready to give up. There is not a moment I'm not glad I didn't."

Ash remembered Sabrina. He remembered everything she said, everything she did to him. He remembered how much he wanted to hurt her, how much he wanted to kill her. But he remembered their last conversation, she said she wanted to change. He hadn't cared, he'd kept hating her, throwing out a halfhearted "maybe someday I won't" at the end.

And he remembered Diglett, someone who had time and again tried to ruin his life, who dogged his steps and tried to destroy what he cared about.

But Diglett had saved Sunny. Sunny had gone out of his way to talk to Diglett, to if not forgive him, at least learn with him. Teaching Diglett and being taught in return. If he hadn't done that Sunny would have died falling into that chasm.

And Ash wouldn't have been able to do anything.

"You said you want to learn?" Ash demanded, glaring at Mewtwo. "Prove it! Learn to be better! Learn that life has a purpose! And never, ever take it for granted."

Mewtwo met Ash's gaze evenly. 'You have my word, whatever that may count for.'

Ash didn't know if he still hated Sabrina.

He wondered how long he would keep hating Mewtwo.

Neesha drooped nearby, as though the wind had gone out of her sails. "Well, shoot, how can I keep clambering for death after that?" Fergus didn't say anything but he put a hand on Gyarados's side and closed his eyes, accepting the decision.

"You weren't clambering and you did have a fair point." Corey clapped her shoulder. "But I think emotions are running high for all of us."

"Now what then?" Karen looked around at the field of Pokemon. "I'm glad you had a change of heart but your "kids" might not be as open to change."

"You poured programming into our heads," Riolutwo spoke up, staring intently at his creator. "Not all of us were able to overcome it."

"A lot of these new babies need help." Mew agreed looking thoughtful. "This is going to be a lot."

"If I may!" Selene raised an arm. "I have a suggestion."

As they turned to her she continued. "During our journey, we ran into several Pokemon who were not in good situations. Whether it was abusive or just unhappy they didn't deserve to suffer. Some of them came with us. But we couldn't help all of them."

"Then we found a place that could. And I think it might be able to help the clones." She explained and Ash caught her point.

"The Hidden Village!" He remembered, it was ironic in a way. They had found it after meeting several Pokemon who seemed trapped with trainers who didn't have their best interests before finding it. After though they only ran into a few, as terrible as they had been.

"The Hidden Village?" Mew tilted her head and Ash felt the memory of the place dragged to the front of his mind. Or at least the creek nearby. "I'll be right back!"

Mew vanished and the psychic bubble popped. There was a tense moment as Mewtwo was left alone with them. But to their relief, he did not act, he truly no longer desired to harm them.

After a moment Mew came back. "It's a bit waterlogged at the moment, but it's perfect! We can fix all the water stuff anyway. I think it'll be great for the new babies! I can't believe I didn't know about it!"

Ash and Selene shared a smile. This was what they had wanted all that time ago, to help Pokemon and make the world better. Maybe things had got a bit more complicated since then, but in the end, it looked like the goal stayed the same.

"Now then." Mew looked at all the Pokemon and trainers. "I guess we should send you home… It might be for the best if you don't remember Mewtwo though…"

Her comment was immediately met with protest. "What?!" Ash demanded and was not the only one. The other Pokemon all refused to accept that decision. As the trainers couldn't understand Ash once again found himself serving as translator. Sure enough the other trainers disagreed as well.

The mythical Pokemon looked like she was caught in headlights at the mass protest and held her arms up. Mewtwo covered a smirk with his hand. "Sorry! Sorry! Nevermind! It's just, well I'm not sure the world learning we exist, Mew in general I mean, is a good idea!"

"I think I get it," Brock admitted after Ash explained the reasoning. "If people knew you existed they'd never stop looking! Especially if they knew about Mewtwo and the storm, we might be willing to let you be but some people might disagree."

"Besides we already knew about Mewtwo," Pikachu added. "Professor Oak… yeah."

'I remember him.' Mewtwo claimed. 'I dismissed him as another scientist, like my own creators. Does he live?'

"He's in a wheelchair." Pikachu crossed his arms, glaring.

'...tell him that I am sorry. And I am glad he still lives.' Mewtwo looked back to the stars. 'Like you, he did not deserve my ire for the crimes of others.'

"Alright, so new babies, gather round, we're going to the village!" Mew gestured and some of the clones closed in.

Pikachutwo shot a look at Pikachu as he passed. "I want a rematch."

Pikachu smirked at him. "Any time bro."

"My lady Mew!" Staryutwo called out. "If I may, what if we do not wish to journey to the hidden village?"

"Uh…" Mew looked around. "Right, new babies who want to go to the hidden village, come over here, new babies who want to go with a trainer group, go with them, and new babies who want to go somewhere else, go over there and we'll work it out."

"You coming with us?" Morningstar asked Zoruatwo, Riolutwo, and Umbreontwo.

"If that's alright. But I'm not sure if I want to do the trainer thing." Umbreontwo checked and Zoruatwo snuggled into Ash's arms a bit more, enjoying the hug.

"Not me though." Riolutwo decided, he bowed to Karen and Riolu. "I hope we meet again, but I believe I can help my brethren."

"You better come visit!" Riolu demanded and his clone met him with a fist bump. Riolutwo then turned to Karen and without warning jumped and punched her stomach.

She hunched over gasping in pain as he landed, and bowed once more. "I am terribly sorry. I could no longer control myself."

"Just get out of here you." She waved him off, wheezing a bit as Brock helped her back up.

"Can I come too?" Dratinitwo asked as Dratini struggled to escape her new sister. "I want to give you all lots of hugs!"

"No! Free me!"

"I don't see why not!" Starmie welcomed her.

"I DO!"

"Until we meet again my immortal foe!" Staryutwo joined some of the other clones going off on their own. "I seek my own destiny."

"May our blades clash in the days to come!" Staryu bid farewell.

"I'm gonna find our original and destroy him," Cranidostwo swore to Cranidos. "They said wherever we want to go right? I want to go to the past!"

"That makes sense." Cranidos accepted.

As the clones made their choices Mew and Mewtwo made their own preparations and turned to the trainers invited to the island.

"Alright then, don't worry about your luggage, I'll send it with you," Mew told them. "Good luck out there! Please don't brag about meeting us!"

A bright light began to surround them. Ash looked down in shock as the ground seemed to vanish beneath them. The light enveloped them and the world vanished.

---

Ash jerked in his seat and blinked, looking around in confusion. They were sitting at the picnic table where they'd had lunch. His friends had similar reactions, dazed looks on all their faces.

"Did that just-" He looked at his brother. "Huh, guess it did."

"That felt weird," Zoruatwo claimed and looked up squinting at the sky. "What's that?"

"Oh cool now I get to explain things!" Cranidos perked up. "That's the sun!"

"It was night," Karen said blandly. "It was definitely night."

"Uh, I can't help but notice the ground doesn't seem wet." Brock noticed looking at the grass around them. "Did we… what just…"

"...I have many questions and I want answers." Misty groaned and stood up. "But more than that, I want to sleep. Let's go home."

"Probably for the best." Ash tried to adjust his cap but his hand found only a head of messy hair. He blinked and turned to Misty, still wearing his hat. "Misty, why are you wearing my hat?"

"...I thought it was the last piece of you I'd ever have." Misty admitted, "I… you know what can we work through this tomorrow? I cannot make words good right now."

"I agree with Misty." Art yawned and leaned against Sunny. "Wake me when we get home."

"Hey Morningstar, since you're the biggest now can we ride you?" Selene asked the Pidgeot.

Morningstar stared at her and then looked at Ash, her beak opening and closing a few times. "I did not think this through."

"Sure you did." Ash laughed, running a hand through her feathers. "You look amazing by the way! And Mom is going to flip! I can't wait to introduce her to Zoruatwo and Umbreontwo!"

"Let's get going then… why is my bag so heavy?" Misty pulled it open, staring inside.

With a yawn, Meowthtwo's head popped out. He blinked in the light a few times and looked at the group. "Is the excitement over now? It seemed too busy for me."

"...when did he even get cloned?" Eve asked.

---

So here we are. Chapter 50 is done! The first Pokemon movie is finished.

What a trip! This is literally the longest chapter I have ever written, which is something that the past few chapters have in common. But now that I'm not focused on something like doing the movie as the fiftieth chapter I'll be able to break things up more. There were several times the past few chapters where I had a point that felt like a natural ending but kept going to make things work the way I wanted.

Now that Mewtwo's done I'm thinking of stepping back from Zorua Trainer, for a couple weeks at least, I got other fics I've been neglecting. Some moreso than others.

But after everything I put into this chapter I want to talk about it, I feel this urge to talk about different things and why I wrote things the way I did. And I figure if you've read this far you might be willing to read a bit longer.

To those of you who aren't interested in my doylist reasoning for everything, I understand, not everyone will find it interesting. To you I say thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the story and the chapter thus far, and I hope you continue to enjoy it as we enter the final stretch of the Indigo League.

And to those who want to stick around and read my insane scribblings, buckle up.

The Length:

I debated breaking this chapter up so many times, especially once I realized I was looking at a 30k word chapter.

When I got the plan to paper I couldn't figure out what a good "halfway" point could be so I figured, oh well giant chapter.

But after I got started I realized I could split it into 5.

Part 1: The Invitation

Part 2: The Stakes

Part 3: The Plan

Part 4: The Battle

Part 5: The Aftermath

Except after all the effort to make it so Mewtwo was chapter 50 I couldn't let myself do that. It felt wrong to have all that build up and then the 50th doesn't even include Mewtwo, he wouldn't show up until 51. Not to mention I have no idea how I'd space them out. A new chapter each day? Two a day?

Still, I'm glad I got the whole thing done in one shot. As I said before this is by far the longest chapter in the story, the longest one I have ever written. I actually split it into separate documents to keep from lagging out.

The Other Trainers:

So one of the major changes in this chapter was how I handled the three other trainers, Fergus, Corey, and Neesha. Admittedly there isn't much to work with from the start, they barely have personalities and Fergus's basically comes down to "bit of a boastful jerk."

But these are supposed to be some of the best and most determined trainers in the region. They crossed the sea in a hurricane to fight Mewtwo. You don't do that if you aren't crazy, determined, and at least have some power to ya.

I don't want to call it fan fixing per se, because I understand why they got jobbed in the movie. These clones are supposed to be powerful and they couldn't do full battles so Bruteroot and Shellshocker went down in one hit each. But here? I can give them better battles and show that these are good trainers.

That's something that bothers me in the show, particularly the earlier seasons. When people who should be good trainers just kind of suck. Like that one guy who won every badge with only a Farfetch'd or the trainers Ash beat with Kingler, a Pokemon he barely knew and had never trained.

…I guess I might be fan-fixing. Uh, take it with a grain of salt then.

So no, Vine Whip isn't gonna one hit KO a guy with years of experience, and let's give him a bit more backstory, he fought Karen in the Johto League a few years back. Let's also give a reason for ordering Rhyhorn to attack Mewtwo, even if they can't win they have to try.

As for Neesha? Well let's give her a proper drive, she's got the willpower to win and more than that, wants to. She hates losing, and that's rubbed off on her Pokemon. She thinks outside the box while battling and uses that to throw off her opponents.

Fergus has the most "personality" of the three, at least in the movie. So let's work with that a bit. He's got traits that Ash particularly hates but he's also good to his own Pokemon, even if he sees himself superior. He fosters strength and encourages them, it's even noted in the movie that the fact he trained a Gyrados is impressive.

And why should they be one-trick Ponyta? Like Karen, they've been at this for years, they've been to other regions and learned a few things. Corey's held onto a Terra orb from Paldea in anticipation for the league, after all, if someone prepares a team to fight his ace Venusaur, suddenly switching him into a fire-type will throw them off.

Neesha went through Alola, she did the Island Challenge and got the Z-Crystals. She's got Z-moves in her arsenal and she's not afraid to use them. Bonus the sudden dance will confuse trainers who don't know what's coming. But she's not going to bet everything on them, instead trying to use them at the ideal moment.

Now Fergus didn't get a chance to battle properly but I had an idea or two, I actually considered giving him Mega Evolution, (Mega Gyrados) but also thought it could be interesting if he hadn't mastered it, if despite his training he hadn't formed the right bond to do it.

Of course, there are other trainers, all the ones waiting for the ferry to New Island, and yes, Ash did catch sight of Ritchie there briefly. They'll get a proper interaction at the league.

In an Alternate Universe, there's a version of this chapter where I used the other Pallet Town trainers instead of Fergus, Corey, and Neesha. I considered it for a time, months ago. In the end though I felt like it made the world feel smaller. There's more to the Pokemon World than just some rookies from Pallet Town, no matter how good they are.

Now, there is another trainer in this movie, the guy who fought Ash at the start. I don't remember them saying his name in my rewatch but Bulbapedia tells me it's Raymond. I could have done more with him, as is I gave him more of a battle than he got in the movie itself.

Again, it's a movie, it can't spend time with battles like that. But I saw it as a chance for Ash to show what he could do against a slightly below average trainer. I am of the opinion he trained his Pokemon for strength, but never thought of technique. Of course, he didn't fare much better in the end, but Ash's victory over him is (implied to be) what makes Mewtwo decide to invite him and his friends.

Zoruatwo:

So remember a few chapters ago when I mentioned there was something in my Mewtwo plan I was second guessing?

Zoruatwo, well, not his existence, but more his role.

I need you to understand, Zoruatwo has existed as a concept longer than Eve or Karen. I planned him right after Pidgeotto. I came up with him and Cranidos at roughly the same time.

That's how long he's been planned.

Then a few chapters ago I pulled the trigger on Eve evolving into Umbreon.

I wasn't lying when I said I wasn't sure what to evolve Eve into, but I didn't say everything. I had been leaning toward Umbreon more than the other options for a long time, but Zoruatwo was always planned to be Ash's last teammate for Kanto. So it felt a bit off making Eve choose dark-type because they needed that advantage only for another one to join right after.

To clarify something else I said, after Art joined the team I said I had one more teammate planned for Kanto. That was Zoruatwo, not Cranidos. My original plan was for Cranidos to come to life after the league, but as I got into the details around Cinnabar I realized it made more sense for him to come in sooner.

And at the time, I wasn't sure if I was sticking to my plan for Zoruatwo.

It wasn't until I started writing him and Ash that I realized how much I could do with him, both as a character himself and to influence other characters around him. He's an Ash whose a few characters arcs behind, and his own can go in a different direction.

I've always been a sucker for clone stories, there's a lot that can be done with them, from the existentialism of "I am just a copy" to actually developing them as characters more than a copy. I suppose I could blame the Clones Wars cartoon for it but well that's an entirely different can.

There are a lot of ways to take a clone story but I rarely get to see the one I want, where the clone is just accepted. They're part of the team and family now. Heck new members might not even realize the "twins" are anything but until they're told. Danny Phantom almost did this with Dani but never quite pulled the trigger.

Mew and Mewtwo:

These two could be two separate sections but let's start with Mew. Most people presume that there is good and evil, but to quote the 14th Doctor, "There is order, and chaos, and there is play."

Mew embodies play.

She knows the world is complicated, she does not care. She makes it simple, she's here for a good time, forever. She doesn't want to stop Mewtwo from killing people or destroying stuff because it's wrong, she wants to stop him because it will ruin the game.

This is a game, it's all a game. Everything is entertainment, she wants to have fun, all shall play her game and despair.

Regardless of the consequences.

So now we have Mewtwo, who is the consequences.

Rewatching the movie I realized my understanding of Mewtwo's characterization was wrong. He's not a stoic force of nature, he's invested emotionally. He enjoys tormenting the trainers and their Pokemon. He constantly smiles and smirks when things go his way.

I decided to use some POVs from him, the humans are a means to an end, he doesn't care about them. He's more interested in their Pokemon. But Ash? Ash is the ideal of his mindset. Humans don't need Pokemon, they've just convinced them that they're needed. Ash is tainted by that weakness like the others but he's come closer to freeing himself of the taint than (at least in Mewtwo's eyes) any other Pokemon.

The problem is Ash just will not cooperate.

He both despises Ash and is desperate for him to vindicate him, he needs Ash to agree with him and is infuriated he won't.

Which in a way leads to his downfall, his pride. Every misstep Mewtwo makes is because of his pride. Ash is able to get a shot in because Mewtwo didn't bother using Miracle Eye from the start, Shellshocker and Sunny are able to tie because even after Bruteroot he didn't expect any human-raised Pokemon to compare to his clones. Team Rocket is left to roam the castle because he considers them inconsequential. Mew is able to sneak around because he thinks nothing can hide from him. Misty is able to nick him because he doesn't consider her a threat, and because he didn't learn his lesson the lack of Miracle Eye lets two of his clones go without his influence.

But then it all really starts breaking down. Mew is much more capable than him, he's proud but also smart. He tries different things but none of his plans work because Mew doesn't care about them. His arguments don't mean anything, the only things that get her attention is him threatening to "break the rules" and ruin the game.

It isn't until his body is broken that his mindset truly is. He desperately holds onto his beliefs until Morningstar knocks him down. Then he lets it all out.

In the original dub of the movie, Mewtwo translates some of Mew's dialogue and apparently, they dismiss him and the clones as "fakes." This interpretation has regained popularity as TC-96 has decided to use it as part of their Mewtwo comic. And while an interesting way to take things I don't exactly think it works for what I wanted to do. I've always seen the original Japanese dub and the English dub as separate canons anyway.

Here, Mew honestly wants to help Mewtwo, and has known about him for a hot minute. How could she miss him? But her own desire to ignore the complications of the world handicapped her ability to interact with him. She assumed he'd act like any Mew and just be playing the games. It's not until he breaks and demands to know why she's treating him like an object that she realizes she messed up and starts taking things seriously.

This isn't the end of their story, I have more planned for them, the other Mew, and what exactly Mew showed Mewtwo in that dream. Mewtwo will return in Avengers 4.

Pidgeotto/Morningstar:

Pidgeotto was the first evolution I planned. I knew how and why she would evolve since almost the moment I introduced her.

Morningstar wasn't the first nickname I picked out, but I think it fits surprisingly well. Lucifer Morningstar, so prideful and glorious. He thought himself the greatest of his father's creations and loved him, but his adoration turned to hatred.

Fitting no? Also, it just sounds cool.

But yeah, in the anime Pidgeot evolves right after the league, but since I wasn't going to have the movie retcon itself out of existence I wanted it to be a major point. I did also consider having Sunny evolve (again) here at one point but decided against that a while ago.

This is not the end of her arc, I feel like I've lost touch with her character a bit, I hope to fix that in the next few chapters and give her some more focus. She deserves it.

Misty:

Misty has long become one of my favorite characters in this story. I hesitate to say more than Ash because she's not a Zorua but I digress. I'm proud of how I've written her and I have been told a few times that my version of her is some people's favorites.

That honestly means a lot to me.

So when this chapter came around she was going to be the one to step up. She's been with Ash the longest and had her worldview shift the most. Which is why it hurts so much when Mewtwo throws in her face that she's nothing compared to her friends. She's not a Pokemon, she doesn't have any superpowers, she's just a kid with a sword and a broken home.

But this monster took almost everyone she had left from her. She might be nothing, but if nothing can put a scratch on god who cares?

My only regret is that her being down took her out of the story for a while, but I weighed the options. If she wasn't unconscious she'd just fall into the background of the clone wars with the other trainers. This way there are a bit more stakes and it gives Karen a chance to develop her fledgling powers more.

Not to mention she basically saved them all. Her attack ticked off Mewtwo so much he actively tried to kill her which got Mew to step in directly because killing is against the Mew Rules.

Regardless, there's definitely going to be fallout from this chapter. Misty already had a bit of a chip on her shoulder and Mewtwo just took a chisel to it.

Team Rocket:

You know I think it's been fairly obvious for a while I have no idea what to do with the TRio.

I will be honest, I know they are some people's favorite characters, and while I think they have funny bits I can't say I like them that much.

That being said, when I write them I have a lot of fun with their dialogue, they bounce off each other really well. It's just their episodic antics really struggle to translate to a proper story like this.

There are so many episodes where they just exist to drag out the plot. There is something else going on or a touching story happening, and then they show up, do something bad, Team Rocket's blasting off.

I've had the concept of them "falling upward" from their introduction but I never quite worked out what they were falling toward. Especially since I was planning to kill Giovanni for so long. I have a bit of an idea of where they're going now.

Anyway, this was (in this story) their first time disguising themselves in front of Ash. It didn't need to work for long, just long enough for him to get in the boat and start kicking himself for being a moron.

It actually kind of worked out since he isn't as familiar with them and couldn't smell them properly this is literally the only time they could have gotten away with it. He won't fall for it again.

But this chapter also served to give the heroes some warning, the TRio has been prepping, and they feel they've prepped enough. The next time they see them there will be a fight, a proper one.

And Minnesota is canon fight me.

And I suppose there's one other thing to talk about…

Why didn't Ash die?

Right. So, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Including me. If you disagree with me, that's fine you are allowed.

Pokemon Tears are really stupid.

Seriously.

Admittedly, the concept didn't come out of "nowhere" at least in the movie. Ambertwo mentions "Pokemon Tears being made of light" in the prequel short. Then the weird doomsayer lady talks about them bringing back those who perished in the storm.

Speaking of which what was up with the doomsayer lady? So weird. Supposedly she's the dockmaster but why is she talking about "the prophets?"

Look, I have written Mewtwo exactly two more times than I planned to by now. Ash was a Zygarde in one of them and thus didn't die, and the other one is BattleNET and the fact the Boss Squad can't stay dead is kind of a running gag.

In that? Sure, let the Pokemon Tears happen, I'll lampshade it with Pikachu shocks being the alternative source of resurrection.

But they make no sense in the greater canon. Are you seriously telling me no Pokemon has ever cried when a human died before? Or were there just not enough Pokemon crying? Or did they need to be turned to stone and not just dead?

Speaking, of, WHY DID ASH TURN TO STONE?

Just… so much about that didn't make sense, including Ash running into the middle of that. On second thought, that's not too out of character. And I know it was supposed to be dramatic and make Mew and Mewtwo reconsider their fight but I took a different route.

I will admit, there is an omake out there where Ash died and came back a Hisuian Zorua. I had the idea when H!Zorua was introduced but decided against going that route almost immediately after. Maybe I'll write it but I also have the Halloween Special sort of covering that what if.

Anyway.

That's a wrap:

I could go into more I suppose. Why I included certain interactions, some of my inspirations. Speaking of I had the idea before Legendarily Popular came out but Zorua repeatedly running through the clone machine to make more Zorua siblings made me feel so vindicated in my Zoruatwo plan.

Ash and Pikachu got a tag team battle against Pikachutwo, which was fun. I wanted the true downfall of Mewtwo's plan of clone uprising to literally be people working together. Something he couldn't account for because he never experienced actual compassion.

There's more of course, the hidden village coming up again, the weird reset button at the end (seriously movie what the heck), my eternal struggle with Absol's ability to sense disasters, Art slowly becoming more and more deranged (I'm sure that's not a problem)...

But that really covers most of it. Thank you all again for reading. I look forward to seeing you again next chapter. Until then, well…

I wish you all the very best, like no one ever was.

~FriTik

Discord: discord gg kESdTfhAwG

TVTropes: tvtropes org / pmwiki / pmwiki php / Fanfic / ZoruaTrainer

R&R