A/N: As you may have already noticed, our not so mysterious Psychic Pokémon on the run is alone and didn't create any clones.

And no talking Meowth. If I ever write a talking Meowth, I'll have it captured/stolen by the Pokémon League itself and run experiments on it lol

Chapter 10: Cloudless Night Sky

"I can see the control room, right where you told me, good job. Should I go inside, are you ready, Jessie?" whispered a man as he adjusted his earphone in his right ear. He wore the uniform of a notorious criminal organization. Its black color allowed the wearer to easily hide in the dark corner of a building. He also had a similarly colored bag on his back.

"Go ahead, James," a voice said over his earphone.

James grabbed a pokéball from his belt and let out a purple pokémon consisting of two spherical heads connected by a thin tube with another sphere in the center. "Weezing, break into that room with Tackle and then use Poison Gas until the person inside faints."

The poison-type pokémon flew forward and slammed itself into the door, breaking it open. The man inside sleeping in his office chair stood up, waking up to the noise just to inhale the smoke in the air. He tried to press the alarm button on his desk but someone suddenly kicked him in the stomach, making him drop to his knees. He gasped for air but pure smoke entered his lungs instead. "Team Rocket," were the words that escaped his mouth when he saw his assailant before fainting.

"Stop releasing Poison Gas now, Weezing," James ordered, with a gas mask, as he knelt beside the fainted security guard. He tied the man's feet and hands behind his back before taking the chair and sitting in front of the computer. His eyes scanned the huge monitors showing different areas in the vicinity. He spotted some black quadrupedal Pokémon with red undersides and white skulls and bone-like structures on their head and parts of their body. "I've taken over the control room, I can see a Houndoom near your target building. One other Houndoom and two Houndours are patrolling around the school."

Under a tree, two Team Rocket members were hiding from the moonlight as they observed a small one-story building that was being guarded by a black canine-like pokémon. "Hey newbie, stay here to keep watch. If you see someone coming and you think I need help then prove your worth," the taller of them handed the smaller one a pokéball.

"Yes ma'am, Jessie," the person replied, their voice cracked a little.

Jessie jumped out of the shadows, revealing her feminine figure and long crimson hair over her backpack as she threw a pokéball, "Arbok, use Dig!"

"Bok!" A purple serpentine pokémon appeared in the air. Just below its head was a large hood with a face-like pattern. Using the momentum of its fall, it dove into the ground, tunneling its way to its target.

"Doom?" the houndoom heard an impact on the ground and turned in the direction. All it saw was a female human in dark clothes but it could feel something crawling under the ground. The spot where it stood exploded and an arbok suddenly attacked him from the hole and threw him into the air.

"Use Wrap and then Poison Sting!" The woman commanded.

"Ar!" Arbok jumped after the dark pokémon in the air and wrapped itself around it. As soon as they landed on the ground, it followed up its attack by releasing poisonous needles straight into its victim's face.

"Hooo!" Houndoom cried in pain, completely taken off guard. But it would not allow itself to fall without a fight, it would hold these intruders back until its companions arrive.

:･ﾟ(ꈍᴗꈍ)･ﾟ:

"Lulu," Riolu barked, waking up the geodude sleeping on the floor next to his bed.

"Geooo," the rock pokémon muttered as it slowly opened its eyes. It looked at Riolu and saw his eyes glowing blue as it heard noises coming from the outside.

"Luu," Riolu put a paw in front of his mouth, signaling for the other pokémon to stay silent. His glowing eyes were fixed on the door, but his focus was not there. With the help of his Aura, he could see what was happening outside the building, but this penetrating vision was only capable of seeing semi-transparent blue figures. Even so, he could tell that there was an ongoing fight outside, between the school's guard pokémon and some intruders. "Rio Rio luu," he began explaining the situation to the geodude. He closed his eyes and released a wave of blue energy invisible to the normal eye, carrying an unspecified message of help to anyone who could feel his weak presence. He knew that he was just a beginner and not yet good at using aura but he still hoped that someone would notice it.

:･ﾟ(ꈍᴗꈍ)･ﾟ:

Ash was fast asleep when he suddenly frowned and turned to the other side of the bed. With a sigh, he woke up and abruptly sat up in bed, "what's that?" He asked himself as his hand wiped the sweat off his forehead. He didn't notice his eyes were glowing in a faint blue and slowly returned to normal. "…must be a dream," he thought to himself, looking at the alarm clock on his nightstand, reading 1:05 am. He lay back to his bed, he didn't want to let go of his drowsiness and have trouble returning to sleep. But then a shiver ran down his spine and an image of a blue bipedal pokémon appeared in his thought, "Riolu? I wonder how he is doing?"

He tried to clear his mind but after a minute his concern for the pokémon only intensified. He didn't know what to do so he just let his gut decide. He shot out of the bed and wore dark blue jogging pants on top of his white shorts. He was content with his black t-shirt so he exited his room and quietly walked down the hallway and the stairs. He wheeled his bike from the wall to the kitchen's exit door, opening it and walking his way out.

He was about to close and lock the door back when suddenly someone stopped it on the other side and opened it again. "Mimey?" He asked in surprise.

"Mime mime mime?" the psychic-type pokémon asked back, his hands gesturing at Ash, the bike, and the door.

"Keep it low okay? Come with me and I'll explain along the way," he pulled the pokémon out of the door and closed it. He quickly put on his helmet and rode his bike while the pokemon hopped onto the back seat and placed the spare helmet on his larger head, only covering the very top. "I woke up from a dream, maybe, and can't get back to sleep. There is a sick pokémon at school under my care and I've got a strong feeling to visit it," Ash explained, not only to his passenger but also to himself, trying to give reason to the sudden urge to check on the Riolu.

"Mime!" His passenger replied and he took it as a word of understanding his explanation.

Since it was the middle of the night, the road was empty and appeared to be wider than usual so he was free to speed up the pace. Their house was only a few hundred meters away from his school so it didn't take long for him to reach the gates. He stopped by in front of the gate intercom and stared straight into the camera before pressing a button, "Hello sir?"

"Hey kid what are you doing there at the gates at this time? Go home now," replied a man. The irritation was evident despite the electronic sound.

"I'm a student and..."

"I don't care who you are, just go home!"

The intercom beeped off and Ash hung his head in disappointment. What was he expecting anyway? It was late at night and he was asking for permission to enter the school. No sensible security guard would allow that. "He could have at least listened to me though," he muttered as he pedaled away. When they got out of sight of the camera at the gates, he felt his body slowly get lifted into the air with his bike. He recognized the faint energy lifting him and turned to his passenger, "Mr. Mime, is this your Psychic?"

"Mime!" the barrier pokémon nodded as it lifted them up the wall and down toward the other side.

"Err thanks, Mimey, hmm," the raven-haired pre-teen gulped in nervousness knowing they could be reprimanded for trespassing. He pushed that thought aside for now and hid his bike behind a nearby tree before leading Mimey to the school ranch. They carefully avoided the cameras along the way and distanced themselves from lampposts.

:･ﾟ(ꈍᴗꈍ)･ﾟ:

The fighting type pokémon hopped off the bed and whispered to its friend, "Rio Rio,"

Geodude crossed its arms over its nonexistent chess as it thought of what Riolu said.

After a minute and still receiving no response, Riolu shook the rock pokémon back and forth to get its attention, "Lu Lu Lu"

Geodude smiled sheepishly, the small grain of sand that was its brain had lost focus and wandered off somewhere.

:･ﾟ(ꈍᴗꈍ)･ﾟ:

Ash heard a faint explosion in the direction of his destination. He abandoned his plan of avoiding the cameras and hurriedly ran towards the source of the noise. As he ran, in a distance he could see some pokémon fighting under the moonlight. He jumped over the fence and knelt behind a bush to not get noticed as he observed what was happening, with Mimey joining him after a few seconds.

There was a small crater on the open field, on one side he saw two houndours and a houndoom lying unconscious while an injured houndoom stood protectively near them. "The school pokémon guards," Ash gasped before looking on the other side of the crater. He saw a woman return an arbok and a yanmega back to their pokéballs while leaving a wobbuffet and a seviper in front of her. The light was limited so he couldn't see the woman's face but it was enough for him to notice the uniform of her organization which was often the subject of the region's news. "They might be after the school pokémon inside," he whispered to himself, looking at the small building of his club.

"Seviper, finish it off with Poison Tail!" The woman's familiar voice pierced into the quiet night. She had a confident smirk on her face as the black serpentine pokémon lunged forward, with the dagger part of its tail glowing in purple.

"Psychic!" Ash shouted, jumping out of the bush with Mimey whose eyes glowed blue as it focused its energy onto Seviper. Surrounded in foreign blue energy, the Snake Fang Pokémon was stopped mid-air, a couple of meters away from the last houndoom standing. Mimey waved its hands and the seviper was thrown crashing back onto the ground in front of its trainer.

"Hey, James, what is this kid doing here?!" Jessie hissed over her earphone as said kid and his Mr. Mime rushed in front of the school houndoom.

"Sorry, he must have sneaked in."

"Tcch, get over here," She didn't wait for her partner in crime to respond and switch her earphone off, wanting to focus on the new obstacles between her and her targets for the night. "Don't play hero kid and surrender now."

Ash squinted his eyes a little, his new position gave him a better look of the woman from a distance, "You! You were the woman from before! Did you just pretend to be a reporter to scout the area and get information about the pokémons here?

"Way to go sherlock! Surrender now and get out of the way, this is your last warning!" Jessie yelled before looking at the three behind her, "Hey newbie, be of use and handle this twerp."

Ash didn't waste this window of opportunity and quickly gave commands to the two pokémon now beside him, "Mimey, use Psychic again on that seviper! Houndoom, let's work together, attack that wobbuffet!"

Mimey lifted and strangled the seviper 10 meters into the air as Houndoom made its move and launched a continuous stream of fire from its mouth to the blue Patient Pokémon, with Ash taking note of the performed move.

"You sneaky twerp!" was all Jessie could say as her pokémons were attacked. "Wobbuffet use Mirror Coat!"

"Mimey, slam Seviper down to Wobbuffet!" Ash countered. Mimey's experience as Delia's pokémon in her days as a trainer came into play as it was able to obey in the blink of an eye by crashing its opposing psychic type with its teammate, preventing it from executing its move. The combined impact and built-up heat caused a small explosion of energy. "Good job!"

The smoke cleared and revealed Wobbuffet and Seviper to be unconscious. Jessie returned them to their pokéballs as a short man in his twenties shakily walked up to her side and threw a pokéball in the air, releasing a purple moth-like Pokémon with green wings.

"About time you showed up! I shouldn't have entrusted James with the recruitment," She shouted at the man before turning to her pokémon she had lent to him, "Dustox, tie this useless man up with String Shot!" She was now being unreasonable and just venting out her frustrations on their new member.

Ash frowned at the sight of Dustox attacking their comrade but he decided to capitalize on yet another distraction, "Houndoom, use flamethrower on Dustox. Mimey, use..." he wasn't able to finish his command as the two pokémon in front of him were hit by a dark brown sludge and razor-sharp leaves respectively. He turned toward the direction where the attacks came from and saw a weezing and a victreebel, which was a yellow plant pokémon with a bell-shaped body. The two new pokémon and their purple-haired trainer joined Jessie on their side of the field. "Houndoom!" Ash knelt beside the fallen dark pokémon as Miméy breathe heavily beside him.

"Accept your defeat twerp!" James gloated as he tossed three more pokéballs in the air.

Ash gritted his teeth at the sight before him. Jessie had a Dustox and the purple-haired guy had a weezing, victreebel, cacnea, carnivine, and an inkay. No matter how strong Mimey was in its days, it was now way past its prime and could only use a few moves before needing to take a breather just as it was doing now. It was six against one. There was no way they could win this. What's wrong with him anyway, thinking a mere student like him would win against adults and their experienced pokémons. The only logical thing to do now was to accept that he was powerless and learn from this mistake. Hopefully, no one would know about his embarrassing defeat.

Everyone, including Mimey, looked at the raven-haired teen as he bowed his head and slowly stood up, his shoulders slumped over and hands shaking. "Mimey, you've done enough...but please hang on...and bring Houndoom and its friends inside the club building!" Ash exclaimed, spreading his arms open and raising his head, his eyes glaring daggers at team rocket. He took a step forward, further emphasizing his intent on using his own body to protect every single pokémon behind him and inside the building.

"I'm sorry but you asked for it! Dustox, use Psybeam!" Jessie ordered.

James was hesitant for a split second but he didn't want to face his teammate's wrath and suffer the same faith as their tied-up recruit on the ground. "Weezing, Sludge! Victreebel, Razor Leaf! Cacnea, Pin Missle! Carnivine, Bullet Seed! Inkay, Psybeam!"

All 6 pokémon waited for James to finish giving out his command before they all charged up their respective attacks.

With a swing of her arm, Jessie gave out the signal, "Now!" All of their pokémon launched their attacks at the same time, curving slightly as they traveled through the air toward their only target.

Ash stood his ground and clenched his fist, his glaring eyes never losing focus on the incoming barrage of attacks directed at him. The noise of the flying projectiles muffled the sound of the building door being slammed open behind him. A blue bipedal Pokémon ran out the door and threw a box full of pokéballs onto the ground. It then jumped onto Ash's shoulder and into the air in front of him, with a sphere of wind in his hands.

"Riolu?" Ash asked in surprise as time seemed to have slowed down. In his peripheral vision, he could see more pokémon rushing into the field, including Brock's geodude hurling some stones. There was the Raichu with a bandage on his leg, sending a bolt of electricity. And a weedle was using Poison Sting.

The opposing attacks collided against each other and exploded more than halfway before Ash.

Jessie and James along with their pokémon were dumbfounded as the smoke cleared and revealed the raven-haired pre-teen standing unscathed behind a glass-like solid energy courtesy of the Mr. Mime. The proud Team Rocket members' eyes couldn't get any wider as the scattered pokéballs the Riolu had thrown started popping open, drowning the field with the distinct chime as dozens of pokémons materialized under the moonlight. There were Pidgey, spearow, caterpie to name a few.

Hope flickered in Ash's eyes, "thanks, all of you!" It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened so he made a mental note to properly thank Riolu later, for now, they had some criminals to deal with. "Would you SURRENDER NOW or prepare to fight?"

"Don't get cocky twerp! You may have the numbers but we have the strength!" Jessie growled, belittling the bunch of low-stage pokémons who growled back at her.

"We'll hold them off. Riolu, please get the pokéballs for the 2nd year and 3rd year students. Your big brother, Lucario, will surely want to have a spar with our new friends from Team Rocket," Ash said loudly for their opponents to hear, hoping to scare them into submission. Riolu and Geodude then rushed back into the building.

"Come on Jessie, we don't have time for this! That last explosion was louder than the previous ones, the police are probably on their way." James said, returning his pokémons except for Weezing.

Jessie bit her lip, "Fine!" She and James pressed a hidden button on the strap of their backpack which then opened at the back and revealed a flight mechanism. "I'll be coming back for you twerp!" She yelled as she and James took flight.

"We won't let you get away!" Ash yelled back. "Guys, attack!"

This time, the Team Rocket members' pokémon showed their training and experience in such situations. Without being told, Weezing released a Poison Gas from the holes in its body while Dustox used Gust to spread the gas faster onto the pokémon below as they both flew after their respective trainers, leaving Ash and the gathered pokémon coughing as they were engulfed by the gas.

:･ﾟ(ꈍᴗꈍ)･ﾟ:

A figure winced as they adjusted in their seated position. They were hiding in the shadows under the small gap between two large boulders. Their body was still covered in minor wounds from the previous fight they had from the group of uniformly clothed humans they were fleeing from. They were able to win the battle and escape, and tried to get as far away as they could. They reached this quiet forest and were able to hide, but the problem was that it was pretty close to a place called a city, if the minds they had read were correct. Yet they could do nothing but try to rest here and regain their strength.

Night came but they were still awake and remained alert, continuously scanning a large area with their power, allowing only their body to rest and not their mind. Because of the quiet night and their psychic enhanced senses, small explosions from the nearby city reached their ears. Explosions so small not even humans around that area seemed to notice. The figure wanted to make sure the commotion wasn't related to their pursuers in any way, so they closed their eyes and focused in that direction.

They did not know whether they would be angry or relieved at what they discovered. There they saw some people wearing the same clothes as the one chasing after them. But this time it was not them they were attacking, but other four pokémons with canine-like features. The figure kept watching to make sure they wouldn't target them next.

They witnessed how a young man entered the scene with an oddly shaped human-like pokémon. They helped the remaining canine-like Pokémon that had previously been fighting the older human and their pokémon. When the boy was about to succeed, a man with the same uniform suddenly arrived and helped out his companion and finally knocked out the brave dark pokémon. At that point, it seemed like the boy could do nothing but give up, but instead of doing so, he chose to stand up and left himself open for attacks. An open invitation that the other two humans gladly accepted by ordering their pokémon to attack the defenseless boy.

The figure wondered why the younger human was trying to oppose the older ones. Shouldn't they be oppressing pokémons together? Maybe that was it. The boy wanted the pokémons there for himself and didn't want others to take them away from his own oppression, even at the cost of his life. That line of thought was challenged when a group of pokémon willingly protected the boy from multiple attacks.

The figure stood up in surprise, eyes still closed. Their surprise grew as more spherical prisons opened on the ground, increasing the number of pokémon standing beside the boy.

And then the older humans proved to be capable of knowing when to retreat and flew into the air.

The figure opened its eyes before vanishing into thin air.

:･ﾟ(ꈍᴗꈍ)･ﾟ:

Ash felt a strong pulse of energy wipe over the field and push the gas away. He heard a thud on the ground and turned in the direction to see Jessie, James, Dustox, and Weezing unconscious on the ground. "What? How?" He noticed there was a strange shadow over him and he instinctively looked up. He saw a figure directly in front of the full moon. He took note of its feline and bipedal appearance before locking eyes with it, "...thanks. Who are you?"

The figure didn't answer. Vocally, that is. Instead, Ash heard a voice in his mind saying, 'They call me Mewtwo.' As soon as he heard that in his mind, the figure disappeared. No. Mewtwo disappeared.

The raven-haired pre-teen was surprised and blinked his eyes, making sure this wasn't a dream. He collected himself and put his hands on the side of his mouth, "My name is Ash Ketchum!" He yelled at the sky just as Riolu and Geodude walked outside, with a box of pokéballs each.

:･ﾟ(ꈍᴗꈍ)･ﾟ:

A/N: Thank you for finishing this chapter and not dropping it midway!

I hope the excessive use of 'they' and 'it' pronouns didn't bother you too much when referring to genderless pokémons.

-Areyem Meyera