Mere minutes remained. Giovanni glanced down at the readouts on the machines to confirm everything was proceeding as planned and then returned his gaze to the battle before him.
All he had to do was keep the boy and his team at bay until the capture fields had finished coalescing around the abomination and then he would place the control helmet on the sleeping beast.
At that moment ultimate victory would be theirs.
It was fortunate that the only thing he needed to do was wait as the boy's full complement of pokémon forced Giovanni into a tactical stalemate, or rather the fact that Giovanni only had a single pokémon forced him into the position. Persian had to handle both offense and defense, driving the boy's team away while stopping them from attacking Giovanni or the equipment. A single enemy pokémon getting past Persian would spell defeat.
If Giovanni had but one other pokémon with him then the battle would have already concluded, the other pokémon defending Giovanni and the equipment while Persian slaughtered the boy and his team. Lacking that the battle dragged on.
Whatsmore, Persian's role on his team was to swiftly eliminate soft targets after Giovanni's other pokémon had exposed them. She functioned as a speedy assassin, not a front-line generalist.
All those factors created a stalemate, but one that worked in Giovanni's favor. Despite some clever tactics the boy had proven no match for him.
A tremor ran through the cave accompanied by a thunderous boom and the sound of rocks cracking and clattering. Bursts of dust fell from the ceiling, becoming a pale purple flow in the mixed light of machine and cave. Beneath his feet the ground shook.
As an expert in ground type pokémon Giovanni had extensive knowledge when it came to geography and cave exploration, which is why he was certain that the passage he had come through just collapsed.
It would be no obstacle to him when he retrieved the rest of his team, let alone when the monster was under his control. All it would mean was that League reinforcements would be delayed.
No one to bother him but the boy. The corners of Giovanni's lips quirked up.
And the boy would be no problem at all.
Ash didn't know what the eruption of noise or the accompanying reverberations meant, but he guessed it wasn't anything good.
The persian had yet to touch him, but still Ash had dozens of small cuts and scrapes on his body from debris and being bombarded by the flying forms of his own pokémon. Each of his pokémon had taken at least one Slash attack. Primeape and Squirtle had taken more and were only still standing thanks to type advantage and their hard shell respectively. The persian in turn was pristine.
As was its trainer.
Grimacing, Ash focused on the machines again. He needed to think of another way past the persian and to the devices surrounding Mewtwo, but after the Thunderbolt the persian had made sure to push them back to the edge of the cavern. It was now easier to make the persian overextend but the persian no longer seemed to be aiming to kill them.
Ash realized that he was running out of time. If they didn't need to kill him, then either they knew reinforcements weren't far behind or they would have Mewtwo soon.
The full scope of what that meant hit the boy, the weight of the world striking the child as he gazed at the powerful man at the other end of the cave.
His victories in Viridian, in the wilds, on the seaside cliffs, in Saffron… they would all be for nothing.
All those people and pokémon who had been hurt, the ones who hurt them would go on to cause more and more harm.
Misty, Brock, and all the other gym leaders and members would be killed.
Even the pokémon in the wilds wouldn't be safe. Team Rocket had shown that they didn't care about them except as resources. Poison Lance, Pocket Watch, and Flygirl would all be in danger.
Ash's own team would be killed or taken.
And Bulbasaur was counting on him just as Ash was counting on Bulbasaur.
So many friends who would suffer. So many friends to let down.
Ash's fists clenched.
He never would.
His heart ignited again and the world became clearer. Ash's body felt so much lighter, so much freer. Aches, pains, and fatigue vanished as if they never were. It felt like lightning and fire swirling under his skin, dancing and roiling, turbulent with a savage jubilance, pushing and tugging to make his body move.
Ash remembered this feeling from the streets above. He didn't care what it was. All he cared about was stopping Giovanni.
#Everyone, we're out of time# Ash relayed to Butterfree as he stared down the persian with renewed focus. Was it just his imagination or did the feline pokémon take a step back? #We're going all in.# Ash continued. # I'm not going to survive if he gets Mewtwo, so don't protect me.#
Not going to happen, Pikachu growled from nearby, staring down the persian. Sparks fell from his cheeks, creating tiny pools of yellow light only to abruptly vanish.
Pikachu, Ash said, please just trust me on this. And again, I'm dead if they win, so I'd rather die and win than live, lose, and die later.
Pikachu growled, but didn't argue.
#Pidgeot, when I say go, use Agility and Wing Attack# Ash ordered through Butterfree. #Charmander, wait for an opportunity to grab it and use Fire Bloom. Squirtle you cover Charmander, don't let the enemy disembowel him while he's got them grabbed. Water Gun if you see a shot before then. Butterfree, after we get going you'll need to stop with the telepathy, we won't have time. Focus on Psybeam and Confusion. Primeape, Close Combat. Pikachu, Iron Tail and Agility again. Understood?#
His pokémon nodded or grunted out affirmatives.
Then let's go! Ash shouted and broke into a run straight at the persian.
Pikachu and Pidgeot became blurs once again, the wind of their passage stirring up the fallen dust. Primeape loped forward, fists ready, white highlights from the artificial lights shining in his fur. Charmander and Squirtle ran at Ash's sides, Charmander glowing with the brilliant orange backlight provided by his tail flame, Squirtle's shell reflecting the faint purple glow of the cave walls and the glaring white light. Butterfree soared over his head, scales on his wings sparkling as he prepared to fight once more.
The persian vanished- no, Ash could track its movements. It was too fast to make out what it was doing but his eyes could follow it.
It sped to the side to avoid Pikachu and Pidgeot and then dashed right for him, as Ash had known it would. After all, who could resist the big opening he had left?
Primeape lunged at it, but the persian flowed around him. It went vertical too fast for Ash to see the jump as Butterfree's Psybeam blasted the space where it had been. And it bounced off the cave ceiling before Squirtle's Water Gun could even be launched.
Flashing silver in the white light the Slash attack came for Ash's throat. Faster than a thought, sharper than a blade, it was an attack that should surely kill a human. Ash could then make out the persian's face, cool and guarded except for the tiny sliver of satisfaction in its eyes as it thought its task was finally completed.
But it didn't hit Ash's throat. He bent back and let himself fall, feeling the breeze from the deadly assault wash over his face and chest. The persian's momentum carried it over him, the feline pokémon's expression morphing into shock.
And then the persian was on the wrong end of the cave, with Ash and his team between it and its trainer.
It realized its mistake fast, too fast for Ash and his team to purposefully capitalize on it. But Primeape just changed targets without caring about the new positioning and Charmander made to grab at it now that he saw a chance. Once again the feline pokémon went vertical, leaving the two pokémon to attack only air.
Don't let up! Ash shouted as the persian rebounded off the cave ceiling and threw itself back between his pokémon and its trainer. Keep up the pressure!
He continued to charge forward, Primeape, Charmander, Squirtle, and Butterfree forming a guard around him. Pikachu and Pidgeot were already on the persian before it could finish landing and Ash was able to see their movements.
Claws shining, the persian tried to cut them down but Pikachu's Iron Tail flashed and parried multiple Slash attacks per second while Pidgeot zoomed overhead, constantly harrying the persian with Wing Attacks. With a hiss the persian fell back under their assault.
Ash and his team passed their original positions without slowing down.
"Shadow Swipe!" Giovanni ordered.
Dragon Breath! Ash shouted over him. Water Gun! Gust!
Shadows surrounded the persian's paw and the ghostly energy began devouring the warmth from the cavern chilling Ash to the bone. The feline swiped the paw forward, throwing the energy in an arc at Ash and his team. Light was consumed and a shadow fell over them all.
Before the deathly energies could reach them Charmander opened his mouth and let loose a stream of purple energy, Pidgeot flapped her wings and unleashed a windstorm and Squirtle sent a stream of pressurized liquid forth. Ghostly power clashed with draconic energies, raging winds, and rushing water. Small shadows flew all over the cavern as the three attacks drilled through the broad front of the Shadow Swipe.
The persian dodged as it always had, but this time it didn't only need to contend with the attacks of Ash's pokémon but also the tattered fragments of its own. It flowed to the side of the whirlwind, three steps ahead of the Dragon Breath and Water Gun carving furrows in the ground as Squirtle and Charmander tried to track it, but its path carried it through shards of its own attack. It yowled and stumbled before righting itself. Ash and his team were also pelted by the scattered shadows; Ash barely felt the chill as he dashed through the scraps.
Ash and his team continued forward.
"Coin Shot into Power Scatter!" Giovanni ordered.
Confusion!
Giovanni's pokémon leapt into the air and hurled gleaming coins at Ash and his team, followed with darts of scarlet power. Waves of telekinetic and telepathic force from Buttefree met the projectiles and threw their trajectories into chaos. Instead of being caught in a lethal storm of attacks Ash and his team pushed through a stinging shower of coins and scarlet darts.
Ash and his team continued forward.
Giovanni realized something had changed with the boy as he and his team drove Persian back.
He could understand the boy dodging Persian's attack, tiny things could go wrong and combatants could get lucky in avoiding attacks that they should have no chance of avoiding. Giovanni could also understand the boy's initial advance, Persian would be on the back foot in that moment and the boy exploited that. But what he could not understand was how the boy was keeping up the pressure, how the boy and his team were able to continuously drive Persian back.
And he could not understand how the boy was keeping up with his pokémon as they charged through clashing attacks time and time again, how the boy was reacting to Persian's speed which was beyond human reaction times, how the boy was enduring the fallout that would have driven adults to the ground.
"Fury Cloud, then Hyper Voice!" Giovanni ordered. Fury Cloud was a series of attacks starting with Sand Attack to kick up a cloud of dust followed by a combination of Agility and Fury Swipes to attack everything in the cloud. Hyper Voice would then clear out the cloud.
Immediately the boy said something Giovanni couldn't interpret and his pidgeot conjured forth a whirlwind just as the cloud of dust from the Sand Attack reached them, creating a screaming dust devil bearing down on Giovanni and his pokémon.
"Hyper Voice!" Giovanni ordered and Persian let loose a yowl that shook the cavern and scattered the dust devil.
The boy and his pokémon continued forward.
Giovanni clenched his fists and glanced at the nearest console for an instant before his eyes snapped back to the battle.
It was almost ready. Just over a minute before the fields reached optimal strength and the helmet could be safely placed on the abomination. Victory was almost theirs and the only thing in his way was the boy.
The boy whose eyes were now shining with a blue light.
So, the boy had awakened some kind of power? Giovanni had come too far, his subordinates had sacrificed too much to let that stop him.
The longest minute of Giovanni's life began.
At a word from the traitorous gym leader the tempo of the persian's attacks increased. It flowed through Ash's team, swifter and more intangible than a breeze, claws slashing like scythes, a living bladed whirlwind. It threw out stronger Power Gem and Hyper Voice attacks in rapid succession, making the cavers shudder, dust and chips of rock falling from the ceiling to add to the chaos.
Under such an assault Ash's advance faltered, but did not fail. Pikachu and Pidgeot engaged the feline pokémon in close combat, speedy uses of Iron Tail and Wing Attack preventing the persian from exploiting any openings as water, fire, fists, and psychic energy tried to fend it off. Shifting shades of light covered the cavern walls as the detritus, debris, and leftovers from the attacks gave them savage, sloppy decorations.
Giovanni's persian struck at Ash with three separate assaults from three separate angles in mere seconds, bouncing from his pokémon to him to another pokémon and back to him. Three Slash attacks that should have killed him in less time than it would take him to cross a pokécenter lobby.
The boy slapped away the shining claw aimed for his throat, taking a nasty cut on his forearm in exchange, jumped over the Slash attack meant to remove his legs and ducked a talon aimed to take his eyes and cut through his skull.
It was utter madness. Ash was trusting his life, the fate of Kanto, and the fate of his team to his unexplained speed, to reaction times that should have been impossible for a human. There was no way he should have been able to perceive the persian's attacks, let alone react to them.
And even that miracle wouldn't be enough to save them.
Ash could see Giovanni's gaze flickering between the battle and the nearest console, could see his body language change. The former gym leader's hand rested on a helmet that he had pulled from beneath a console and it seemed like he was moments away from leaving to use it.
Ash had a good idea of what he would use the helmet for.
More attacks fell upon them. Primeape grunted after being nailed with a Power Gem attack. Squirtle screamed as the persian opened a dripping laceration on his head. Butterfree shouted as he flew face first into a stalactite to avoid the persian. Ash threw himself forward to avoid a slash that would have opened up his back.
There hadn't been another chance to launch an attack of their own against Giovanni or his machines. It was all Ash and his team could do to keep advancing under the fleet and agile assault of the persian.
They were so close. Ash could see his enemy in detail; Giovanni's suit covered in dust from the cave, the hard black eyes tracking the battle, mouth pressed in a thin line, the red R pinned to his chest.
The persian attacked him again and Ash tripped in his efforts to avoid yet another Slash attack aimed at his throat. His team instinctively closed in around him, halting their advance.
Panic, cold and tingling, welled up in Ash, but there wasn't time. He heard Pikachu clash with the persian above and behind him as the feline pokémon wanted to finish up the downed trainer. Ash forced himself to his feet, leaned out of the way of a Power Gem attack that drilled deep into the cave wall, and tried to close the remaining distance between him and Giovanni.
He was forced to fall back as the persian appeared in front of him and launched a ferocious Pay Day attack. Coins blasted into the cavern floor like bullets and Ash was unable to advance. He looked at Giovanni-
It was time. The capture fields were in place, the psychic network was ready, and Giovanni was in position. Even if the abomination woke up it would be helpless. He turned away from the boy, helmet under his arm.
Giovanni would not hesitate at their moment of triumph, the moment they had all been working towards, had sacrificed so very much to achieve. The immensity of the moment, the danger, the criticality, it moved Giovanni beyond emotion, beyond fear, hope, and anticipation.
He took the first step towards the beast and victory-
Giovanni turned away from the battle, taking the helmet and walking towards Mewtwo.
It was now or never.
Ash grabbed a pokéball from his belt belonging to the pokémon he had recalled before the battle started and-
Giovanni heard the familiar sound of a pokémon being sent out and the boy shouting in the strange language. He turned and saw a scaly orange pokémon sailing through the air, over Persian's sustained Pay Day attack.
Giovanni had just enough time to register that it was a magikarp hurling towards him before, in a picture-perfect example of a Tackle attack, it smashed the helmet out of his hand and shattered it into pieces on the cave floor.
Persian instinctively stopped her sustained Pay Day attack, returning to Giovanni's side, as the magikarp flopped back and landed on a console, flipping a switch-
In a place where the sun had never shone, where day had never come, two glowing eyes opened.
Mewtwo awoke.
And the world was forever changed.
AN: I'd like to thank Amationary for beta reading.
This fight scene was harder to write than I thought it would be.
Heck, this entire sequence, outside of Bulbasaur's death was harder to write than I thought it would be.
Kanto, and therefore the first part of Symbiotic, is almost complete. I'm really looking forward to the historical side story I've got planned and then after that the Orange Islands. However future regions won't quite be like Kanto. If I want to have any hope of making it to the end of the series future installments will have to be shorter and more focused, somewhere between 100k and 200k words instead of 400k.
Also, as I may have mentioned in other ANs, I don't think many of you will like how I'm going to handle the first movie... but I like what I've got planned and that's what important (or so they say...).
The next chapter of Symbiotic will be released February 26th 2025
How many of you on FFN have gotten the artist scam PMs? Don't reply to them, they're just bots looking to get your info.
Don't forget to leave a review! Concrit is welcome! (It gives me an excuse to discuss technical details of the story!)