Chapter 92, everybody! Got the Mewtwo arc about 95% done and did some polishing so…here we go, technical difficulties with computers will not deter me.

Moving on—real talk, by this point Ash is just going to assume non-native Pokémon over genetic cocktail. Also the battle was a section that was written out way ahead of time—I think the first movie had bopped on TV for like the first time in forever and I was inspired.

And now for reviews: thanks to Dragonkeeper10, BlastShooter87, Speed Reader, Cyan Quartz, Garm88, Cassia Rose, Chryssal, thor94, AverageHiveMind (Ash trusts Lenny more than he trusts boats, let's be fair), Reader, griffin blackwood, Silverwing23, epantoja521, AngelicTrinity, Anonymous Person, elijahlarson03, Guest, RJMeta, ChibiFoxAI, and ea124 for the reviews! I'm a little concerned about all the does Ash die again questions but amused by the oh no two Frenzies reactions. XD

Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo

And now, for something completely different:

Thanks for tuning in friends, this is Mr. Dex Rotom, your friendly voice on the friendly airwaves! In other news, Alola is currently closed for tourism due to concerns about the Pokérus. Definitely the Pokérus and not Aether Foundation opening a wormhole into an alternate dimension. Please take no heed of any strange Pokémon you may see. Although if you do see one, the Aether Foundation asks that you call their hotline. And now back to our regular broadcast with the Lumineons' latest hit "Runerigus."

Ash's first instinct upon being told new Pokémon was to tug out his Pokédex and scan it—scowled and put it away when it said no data again. So…not a Kanto Pokémon.

"What the Muk is a Mewtwo?" one guy demanded. "I've never heard of such a Pokémon!"

"Good," Mewtwo said—probably psychically, Ash didn't see its mouth move. "I'd hate for such an uncouth human to have heard of me."

"I've never heard of one either," Misty muttered to Ash and Brock.

"He didn't show up in my Pokédex, so he's not from Kanto," Ash pointed out—blinked at Brock's stern expression. "Uh, Brock?"

"Even if it wasn't a Kanto Pokémon, if it's the world's most powerful Pokémon like it claims, we would have heard about it," Brock told them. "I don't like this."

"And it bears asking the question why would a human work for a Pokémon—have you seen that lady?" Misty said, indicating the woman who had led them in here. "She hasn't moved at all! I don't think she's even blinked."

"She strikes me as familiar too—I think she's the missing nurse from the ferry."

"What!?"

Someone else had zeroed in on the woman as well. "Why would you work for this thing!?"

"That reminds me: I have no further use for her," Mewtwo said, waving a paw—the woman collapsed like her strings had been cut. Brock and another guy ran over to check on her—

Ash ran hot at that. "You know that was really scummy," he bit at Mewtwo. "You can ask people instead of just brainwashing them!"

"Ash maybe we don't antagonize the scary Pokémon when we don't have a viable escape route," Misty hissed at him, returning Togepi to her bag before shifting her hand to her belt.

"I'd listen to your friend if I were you," Mewtwo told him.

"So now you're telling me you don't handle criticism well," Ash barked back.

"Ash no channeling Darkrai," Misty said, tugging him back by his ear.

"And no one accepts criticism from a ten-year-old," Mewtwo said, arms crossed.

"I'm ten and a half!" Ash protested. "And I have six badges!"

"Whatever."

"Forget this!" some guy yelled. "If you're a Pokémon, then that means you can be caught, just like any other!" Heeled back, threw a ball as hard as he could—

Mewtwo batted away the Pokéball before it could even get close.

"Dude, kind of rude to throw something at someone when they're talking," Ash said.

"At least one of you has some manners," Mewtwo said, flicking a finger; the guy who threw the Pokéball went flying. "You're in a time-out for the foreseeable future."

Ash winced as the guy went skidding.

"As for the rest of you: let's see how you trainers fair against the world's most powerful Pokémon!" Mewtwo challenged, waving forward three Pokémon waiting in the wings—a Blastoise, a Charizard, and a Venusaur.

Everyone started at that.

"Y-you want us to battle?" one girl asked. "Like a Pokémon battle?"

"That was the purpose of bringing you here."

"Shouldn't you be the one battling then?" one of the other trainers challenged.

Mewtwo smirked. "If you can't defeat my clones, then you have no hope of defeating me."

"Clones?" Ash echoed.

"Yup, we ended up in a horror movie," Misty sighed.

"All right then," another girl said, tugging a Pokéball off her belt and tossing it. "Go Torte!"

A Blastoise rivaling the size of the one across the way appeared, ground out a roar upon seeing that it landed in a battle.

"Hydro Pump to distract, then Skull Bash!" she ordered, waving her hand. The Blastoise hastened to obey.

"Wait why are we doing what the scary Pokémon wants?" Misty asked, throwing her hands up.

Ash, meanwhile, was watching Mewtwo—he kind of gave him Psychic-type vibes, like Sabrina's Pokémon had. And if that were the case, then he wouldn't be giving any orders out loud.

Sure enough, when the bipedal Pokémon's eyes started glowing, the Blastoise with the odd markings gained glowing eyes as well. By the time the girl had finished giving the order, the opponent Blastoise was already tucked in tightly to its shell, the Withdraw boosting its defense, a metallic sheen appearing and signaling a further defensive increase via Iron Defense.

But the girl's Blastoise didn't see that thanks to Hydro Pump obscuring it, and then tucking its head down to charge—Ash winced in advance at the headache it was going to get.

Except the opponent Blastoise opened up its cannons and blasted away with Aqua Jet, to everyone's surprise—not the least because it jetted away from its opponent. They watched as it circled around and back, one cannon slowing to a trickle and sending it into a spin—

When it collided with its dumbfounded opponent, it was whirling in a full-speed Rapid Spin, sending the other Blastoise shooting into the wall so hard Ash heard something crack.

The girl's Blastoise fell to the ground and didn't get back up.

"A poor showing," Mewtwo observed, arms crossed as his Blastoise emerged and gave a victory cry. "Next."

A guy with dark green hair stepped up as the girl recalled her Blastoise.

"All right, I challenge your Venusaur then!" he yelled, tossing a Pokéball. "Go, Buddy!"

Ash blinked as a Venusaur came out, wondered mildly why it didn't occur to either this guy or Mewtwo to not send the same Pokémon against each other.

"Okay! Set up, Buddy!" the guy yelled. Well, at least it wasn't yelling out strategy, Ash supposed, but Mewtwo was still giving his orders psychically as the guy's Venusaur loosed several different powders before coating itself in a reflective sheen—well, a Reflect might be enough to slow down an attack, if one could get through the noxious smog of poisonous powders separating the two—

Magical Leaf cut through in a wide swathe, curving in to strike against the guy's Venusaur, sending it wincing back with a startled yelp.

The next thing any of them knew, they were too busy bracing themselves against the wind whipped up by a Petal Blizzard, blowing the powders away—and then frantically grabbing at whatever they could when the opponent Venusaur hit the ground hard, sending an Earthquake rocking the field—

And then blasting the guy's Venusaur with a Solar Beam while it was off-balance.

"Buddy!" the guy gasped—

And then was further floored when the opponent Venusaur grabbed his Venusaur with a Vine Whip and lifted it up high into the air, slammed it down into the ground, up again, down again, up again, down again—

"Stop! Stop! I yield!" the guy screamed, already grabbing his Pokéball. "Buddy, return!"

The unconscious Venusaur vanished in a stream of red light before colliding with the ground a fourth time.

And then it was Charizard left who hadn't battled.

"Any other takers?" Mewtwo asked mildly, looking smug. People started shuffling, as though they realized they had bitten off more than they could chew. Well, someone had to wipe that smug look off his face….

"Me next!" Ash said, running forward, already pulling a Pokéball from his belt.

"I'm interested to see how your Charizard fairs against mine," Mewtwo said, a smirk visible from this distance.

Ash wasn't sure how it must look, but his grin felt savage enough.

"Nuh-uh," he noised. "We're having a Pokémon battle, remember? And a trainer always takes advantage of type. Go, Lenny!"

Lenny made sure to thrash every last inch of his long serpentine body upon appearing in battle.

Mewtwo made a pensive noise before making a slashing motion with his hand. "No matter—Charizard, destroy that Gyarados."

Charizard roared before loosing a powerful Flamethrower.

"Surf, Lenny!" Ash ordered. Lenny obeyed, dousing the Flamethrower before it could reach him.

"Rock Tomb."

"Aqua Tail!"

"Rock Tomb again!"

Charizard punched the ground and started throwing the resulting boulders at Lenny, flinging them with such frequency that Lenny couldn't bat them all away—and even if he could, they were still doing damage. They needed a new plan.

"Now I see why you humans keep yelling your strategies out," Mewtwo opined, still ineffably smug as Ash started to panic. "It has a certain charm, seeing the exact moment your opponent panics at your order."

"Er," Ash noised, thinking frantically. "I got it! Lenny! Use Splash!"

Ash was pretty sure that everyone took a nonplussed moment there, even Lenny and Charizard.

And then Lenny obeyed.

It was quite a sight, seeing a twenty-some-foot-long sea serpent thrash in such a way that it launched itself into the air. And when he landed behind a stunned Charizard—

"Hydro Pump, Lenny! Close range!" Ash ordered—and then stepped out of the way when the Hydro Pump sent Charizard shooting across the way and into the wall.

Charizard was out like a light when the water stopped.

"An impressive showing, at last," Mewtwo said, clapping his paws together. "So perhaps not all my choices were for naught."

And then he waved his paws, summoning black Pokéballs.

"You should feel honored," Mewtwo continued. "Your Pokémon's DNA will fuel the new world I will create."

"Hey!" Ash protested. "You can't do that!"

"Watch me."

Ash wasn't about to—he charged with the intention of punching that smug cat face of his—

Mewtwo flicked a paw out—seemed to have a moment of panic when it didn't work right away—flicked his paw harder, succeeding this time in knocking Ash back.

"Don't try that again," Mewtwo ordered, eyes glowing.

Ash jumped upright with the intention of doing just that, ran straight for him—

"Ash, look out!" Misty yelled.

Ash looked—

Just in time to see Lenny get sucked into one of those wonky-looking Pokéballs.

"No! Lenny!" Ash yelled, skidding to a halt and changing tacks. The other trainers were scrambling, trying to catch their Pokémon before they were sucked away—

"Hey!" one of the other trainers exclaimed. "I got an idea! Nidoqueen, return!"

The Nidoqueen vanished into her Pokéball, just seconds before one of the wonky Pokéballs sucked her up—

And then a different one sucked the Pokéball into the Pokéball.

"Wow," Ash muttered, temporarily thrown. "It's Poké-ception."

"There's no chance!" Brock yelled. "We've got to run!"

Ash did so, pursued by more Pokéballs—

"AAH!" he yelped, feeling the weight on his belt vanish as the Pokéballs stole his Pokémon. "Give them back!"

"PIKA PI!"

"Pikachu!" Ash hollered, looking around—there! Running up one of those weird spiral staircases! Ash tore after him, determined to save at least one of his Pokémon—

"CHUUU!"

Ash tipped his head, using the bill of his cap to protect his eyes from the blinding flash of a Thunder Shock—Pokéballs fell beside him, but more surged upwards—come on, come on—

Another Thunder Shock—then another—

But they were weakening—

"I'm coming, Pikachu!" Ash hollered.

Ash looked up at Pikachu's scream—

To see that he had slipped, and was falling to his doom.