Chapter 18

"What the-" Ash, or Latios rather, looked at the Magikarp. Or, at least, what was a Magikarp. The 'Magikarp' was now an ominous-looking thing that could only be described as the essence of darkness. You could imagine the most terrible things and still not come close to how this being looked. The only resemblance of a Magikarp was its fish-like body. The rest of it was pure darkness.

"I can't look," said Latias, shutting her eyes.

"That is not a Magikarp," said Pikachu.

"I agree," replied Latios, "that thing looks like… pure evil,"

"Can you tell what happened to it?" asked Ash.

Latios paused for a second. "I don't know… I can't sense anything in it. It seems… devoid of all life. It doesn't give off that presence that living things are supposed to and yet, it's still alive."

Ash said nothing. He knew Latios meant that it was beyond help, unable to ever live again. The thought of that made chills run down his spine. He knew what he had to do. "Latios?"

"Yes?"

"You can come back now, we need to find a way to stop them."

Latios nodded, ending the sight sharing. "On it,"

"What's the plan?" asked Pikachu.

"Treating Pokemon like that is just- just- terrible," said Ash, "Arceus said there's a way to stop them and we're going to find it!"

Latias looked at Ash. "I know we have to, but…"

"Something wrong?" asked Ash.

"It's just- I was fine fighting their shadow Pokemon but these seem, well, different."

"Don't worry Latias," said Ash, reaching out to stroke her head. "I promise we won't hurt them unless we absolutely have to,"

Latias smiled. "Thanks, Ash,"

"I'm back," said Latios, "sorry it took a while, it was kind of hard to get out of there unnoticed."

"That's fine," said Ash, "where do you think we should go next?"

"There's a sign here that says darkness research room." said Pikachu, "Maybe we should go that way?"

Ash nodded. "Alright, let's go,"

"Sir, they fell for the sign trick,"

"Very good, send me to the room."

"As you wish sir," the man pushed several buttons on the wall. In response, a metal door opened and he bowed as his superior stepped through. The wall then shut as Team Void's boss walked out of sight.

"How long is this hallway?" groaned James, "We've been walking forever,"

"My legs can't take much more," complained Meowth.

"Quiet you two," said Jessie, "someone's coming," The three of them quickly ducked behind a few trash bins.

Meowth's eyes widened. "It's da twerp!"

"What's he doing here?" asked James.

"How should I know?" asked Jessie.

"He has a Team Void uniform on." said Meowth, "Do ya think he joined them,"

"Not the twerp," said Jessie, "he's probably spying on them too,"

Ash suddenly turned around. "Uh oh, I think we've been found," said James.

"Hold on a second," said Latios, "I'm sensing a presence near us,"

Latias stopped for a second. "Yeah, me too, it's coming from behind those trash bins."

"I'll check it out," said Ash, "you guys cover me in case it's a trap,"

"Thunderbolt at the ready," said Pikachu, cheeks crackling.

Ash walked over the the trash bins and pushed them aside. "Team Rocket!?"

"Prepare to get rid of all this trouble,"

"And when we're done we'll make it double!"

"To protect the world from the nasty Void,"

"To unite all peoples that are paranoid!"

"To denounce their team when they think they've won,"

"To extend our reach and fight as one!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket being stealthy at the speed of light,"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth that's right!"

"So, you're here to stop Team Void too?" asked Ash.

"Obviously," said Jessie, "those pests think they can be the only evil team in Johto! We'll show them!"

"So these are the guys you were talking about," said Latios, "you were right, they are hilarious."

"Yeah, they don't seem that bad to me," said Latias.

"They aren't," said Ash, "they're just annoying and try to steal Pikachu all the time."

"Well twerp, since we're here for the same thing wada ya say we team up?" asked Meowth.

"Um…"

"No worries," said James, "we promise on our honor that we won't try to steal Pikachu," The three of them nodded their heads to signify the point. Pikachu rolled his eyes.

"They're telling the truth," said Latios, "they should be fine as long as they don't get in our way,"

"Don't worry, they will," Ash chuckled. "Alright, that's fine, but you'd better keep that promise."

"We will!" they coursed.

Ash nodded and started walking in the direction they had been going.

"Hey twerp, where are we going?"

"And how did you get here?"

"Do you know anything about Team Void?"

Ash sighed. This was going to be a long walk…

Nigel frowned. This was supposed to just be him and that supposed hero. Who were these clowns and what were they doing here? He sighed and shrugged it off. From the looks of it, they wouldn't be too much of a bother…

But back to the prepping. He knew exactly what he was going to do as soon as the kid walked in the door. It was all planned out, he had his 'special' Pokemon and a large battlefield. He would defeat that boy, fair and square, in a battle. After that, he and his Pokemon could easily be manipulated for Team Void's purposes. It wouldn't be easy, of course, but good things were rarely ever easy to obtain.

"You may have beaten all my men," said Nigel, "but you'll find I don't fall so easily… Latius."

"Hey we're here!" said Pikachu.

"Finally," said Ash.

"I wonder why we always end up doing stuff like this," said James.

"Maybe because you keep following me," said Ash.

"Oh, right,"

"I got a bad feeling about this," said Meowth.

"Relax Meowth," said Jessie, "the twerp has dealt with this stuff before,"

Ash sighed. He was still a bit tired from telling the trio a 'version' of his story. Thankfully, Latios and Latias were there to help him make up what didn't fit in.

"So, are we going in or what?" asked Pikachu.

Ash nodded. Going up to the door, he took a deep breath and turned the handle.

The gang stepped into a dark, eerie room. Pikachu used a small shock around himself to light the way. Suddenly, the door shut behind them and locked with a click.

All of a sudden, the lights turned on, revealing a huge battlefield with a pokeball shape in the center. Rocks and other objects were stuck at random on it. Then, Ash noticed a man standing on the other side of the field. His dark hair covered most of his face and he wore a dark cloak around his body.

Suddenly, a voice filled the room. "Well, well, you finally arrived."

And done!

Sorry for the (super) long wait, I had a lot of stuff going on...

Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter, I'll be sure to get the next one up faster!

If you enjoyed this story so far, please leave a review and be sure to join my discord server! (link on my profile page)

Until the next chapter!