Pokemon
A True Master

Chapter 1: The Arrival

       Lance leaned back against the chair he sat in. It had been a 
boring day. Not a single trainer had journeyed to the plateau that 
day, let alone come to battle him. It was unfortunate actually, 
because with the absence of trainers, his Dragonair would never gain 
enough experience to evolve, and if his Dragonair never evolved, Lance 
would never be able to stand a chance against that incredible trainer, 
Ash Ketchum.


       The crowds were cheering. Lance couldn't believe it. His 
accomplice, and friend, had lost. Somehow, by some unpredictable 
miracle, Lance's Dragonite, known as one of the most powerful pokemon 
ever, had lost. The most surprising thing about his Dragonite's loss 
however, was that it had been beaten by a pathetic Pikachu. Gary Oak 
had fought violently, making his pokemon fight for all their worth. 
When his Gyarados had delivered the final blow to Lance's best, it 
had been ready to faint. To that trainer, Lance had been more than 
a challenge, he had been like an opponent in war. For this kid, who 
stood before him, his Dragonite had been beaten with a single minor 
electric attack.
       Lance threw his pokeball forward. His Dragonite was now safe 
and away from this abusive trainer. Indeed, with this kid's pokemon's 
powers, being the best trainer ever would be easy. Lance had done his 
job, as had his pokemon. They rose as a barrier, and, surprisingly, 
had been vaulted over like a fence.
       "The winner, Ash Ketchum!" the announcers voice boomed over the 
crowd. Lance and Ash walked forward to each other and shook hands. 
"Your Pikachu is extraordinary. Tell it that for me, would you? Tell 
it that I, Lance the Dragon Trainer, respect its power and abilities. 
And as for you, young Ketchum, with your skills as a trainer, you 
will, in my opinion, be one worth the title of pokemon master," Lance 
told the trainer.
       Ash's only response had been "Thanks!"


       That had been a while ago, but Lance remembered the day like 
it had been yesterday. Indeed, he did respect Ash Ketchum, but he had 
been beaten twice in one week, by two trainers who had even once been 
friends. This had not been a coincidence. The fact that the renowned 
Professor Oak had trained them both had definitely increased there 
skill, but there was something more. Gary fought well, and his pokemon 
were strong, but they seemed to only be battling to please their 
trainer. With Ash's pokemon, they fought as if they were doing it for 
themselves, knowing that even if they failed, their trainer would 
understand that they had tried their hardest. Why was that?
       Lance yawned. Where were all the trainers? There was always at 
least one trainer on the Plateau at a time, but today, it seemed as if 
they were avoiding having to battle the Elite. Lance sighed. In all 
his days of serving for the Elite, he had only been defeated three 
times, and that third trainer hadn't intended on defeating the famous 
Lance. That trainer, David Keaton, hadn't seemed normal when he 
battled. Yes, his pokemon were at experience levels just above Lance's 
pokemon's, but it had still seemed that they didn't know who their 
trainer was. They obeyed him word for word, but neither David nor his 
pokemon had expressed any emotions to one another. It had been quite 
odd.
        Suddenly, without warning, Lance was thrown from his chair 
onto the ground with a tremendous tremor.
       As the smoke cleared, Lance could see that collections of 
debris lay all around him. What had caused this? Lance didn't know, 
and did not want to know for that matter. In the distance, he could 
hear the startled cries of Lorelei, as well as the sound of Bruno's 
deep voice.
       Then, right before his eyes, Lance saw something he could never 
have expected.
       "Sorry to make a mess of the place without calling for an 
evacuation first, but I thought that you might find this a bit more 
exciting!" the man laughed. He stood there, smoke clearing behind him, 
with a very small grin on his face. The man stood at about six feet, 
and had a dark brown suit on. What really attracted Lance's attention 
however, was the man's long brown ponytail, dangling behind his head.
       "Would you mind telling me who exactly you think you are?" 
Lance asked.
       "My name is Rynass, and I'll tell you exactly who I am. I am 
the greatest pokemon master of all time!" The man answered.
       "Ha. We'll see about that. I challenge you, sir to a battle, 
and I'm going to make it worth your while, because once you've lost, 
the only master you're going to be, is the master of your prison 
cell." Lance said. What right did this man have, to destroy the Elite 
Headquarters, and then call himself a pokemon master?
       "I accept your challenge, and, if you don't mind, may we begin 
right now? The sooner you leave the better," Rynass said.
       "The sooner I leave? What . . . who . . . just who the hell do 
you think you are? Dragonair, mop up this piece of crap!" Lance cried 
out in surprise as he threw out one of the pokeballs attached to the 
inside of his shirt.
       "You can come out now," Rynass simply said.
       Then, Lance saw something that would have easily given Agatha a 
heart attack. Walking out of the smoke that still lingered came some 
type of creature. Lance assumed that it was the pokemon this 
"trainer" was going to use, but he didn't recognize it whatsoever.
       "What is . . ." Lance began, almost speechless.
       "This is the pokemon I shall use to battle you with. Its name 
is Mewtrio, and there is none other like it in the world. It combines 
the psychic abilities of some pokemon, with the ferocious fighting 
tactics of others. Mewtrio, for this first battle, let's show our 
friend's Dragonair no mercy!" Rynass said to the creature.
       Lance couldn't pull his eyes away from the monstrosity. It had 
white skin, and stood up like a man. It was about seven feet high, 
and off every single square inch of it's body sprouted muscles, and 
sprouting from every few square inches of muscle was a spike. The 
creature also had two large shoulder spikes that resembled two large 
pieces of metal. A long tail, containing the only other color of this 
creature, black, lay against the ground. It had black jagged stripes, 
and ended in a large bulb. The bulb, along with the entire tail, was 
also covered with spikes. Actually, the only part of this "Mewtrio" 
that didn't have spikes was its head, and even that had three larger 
spikes pointing upwards like ears. As for the creature's face, it had 
none, other than two black triangles that seemed to serve as eyes.
       "Dragonair, bind!" Lance cried out.
       Before Dragonair even heard this command, its neck was already 
trapped in the three fingered hand of its opponent. It couldn't move. 
Mewtrio then raised Dragonair's head about two feet into the air, and 
Lance watched in horror as Mewtrio raised his knee, and brought 
Dragonair's head down onto it so quickly, that to Lance, it appeared 
just as a blur.
       "Dragonair!" Lance screamed, but it was too late. Shards of 
Dragonair's skull had already embed themselves in its audio-perception 
region of the brain.
       "Good work Mewtrio. Shaterskull works every time!" Rynass 
laughed.
       Lance threw forward his pokeball at that very same moment, but 
it just came shooting right back into his hand. Lance was stunned. In 
desperation, he sent the ball forwards again, but it again returned to 
him. "What have you done?" he asked out loud in a low, solemn voice.
       "That's Mewtrio's Shatterskull attack, certain to kill a 
pokemon in one hit." Rynass responded, smirking.
       Lance's heart sank nearly as fast as his hope. His pokemon, 
his loyal servant, was dead, killed by one of its own kind. Now, 
Lance would never stand a chance against Ash or Gary with only one 
Dragonite. This was wrong. Pokemon don't kill pokemon, it just wasn't 
right. But then again, this creature didn't seem like a pokemon. It 
moved too quickly, and acted too amorally to be a pokemon. But if it 
wasn't a pokemon, what was it?
       "Aerodactyl, Gyarados and Dragonite, go now!" Lance cried out, 
throwing all three balls at the same time. Aerodactyl landed to his 
left, Gyarados to his right, and Dragonite right in front of him.
       "Ah, a decent challenger, not like that . . . Dragonair," 
Rynass said as Mewtrio took a step forward, to meet his challengers.
       Then, without making a sound, Mewtrio raised its arms in front 
of itself, and then sent them swiftly to its sides.
       At the very same moment, the Aerodactyl and Gyarados flew away, 
being transported by some type of clear black substance.
       "You, Dragonite, are a worthy challenger. You are at level 
seventy-five, quite high compared to the average pokemon." Mewtrio 
said in a low, sinister, non-characteristic voice.
       "Dragonite, Hyper Beam!" Lance screamed to his friend, and 
could only pray that it would get off as easily like his other two 
pokemon, who were now safe inside their pokeballs.
       Dragonite reared back his head, and then shot it forwards 
again, sending out a powerful beam of energy. But it was too slow. 
Even as the first quantum of energy left Dragonite's mouth, Mewtrio 
had already jumped onto the creature's neck, and, this Dragonite being 
over twenty feet tall, shocked Lance beyond belief.
       Then, as Dragonite turned it's head around to greet its 
antagonist with another blast of energy, Mewtrio placed its hand over 
the other and pulled its head back. As Dragonite's Hyper Beam was shot 
forward, it was instantly overpowered by an attack of Mewtrio's, and 
sent the energy back into the dragon's throat. Mewtrio swiftly jumped 
off the fallen Dragonite, and stood facing his opponent, pleased with 
itself.
       "Good job," Rynass declared.
       To Lance's prayers, the pokeball absorbed Dragonite and 
returned the unconscious dragon to his home. Still, Lance was upset. 
This rude man and his unholy pokemon had broken into his building, and 
were now forcing him to leave. But that was just a scratch compared to 
the amputation of knowing that whatever this evil pokemon was, it had 
killed another pokemon, and not for food or defense, but simply for 
sport. Lance was disgusted.
       "I'll leave now, but I swear that we shall meet again, and on 
that day, the outcome of our battle shall be very different." Lance 
told the man as he kissed the head of his Dragonair goodbye.
       "I know. Next time, I'll let Mewtrio kill all that bunch of 
weaklings you call pokemon!" Rynass yelled out. This was followed by 
a series of short, hard laughs.
       Lance controlled his rage. This man, if he could even be called 
that, would eventually get what he was asking for, be it from him, or 
Ash Ketchum.





Chapter 2: A Pair of Phone Call

       Ash laughed. He remembered the time well. There he had been, 
battling his friend, putting his Metapod against Samurai's. What a 
ridiculous error!
       "Yeah, I remember that time Misty. Boy, that was so dumb of 
him, to call out a Metapod when I already had mine out. That crazy 
Samurai!" Ash said, and then laughed some more. As he leaned back, 
Misty admired Ash's form. He had grown quite a bit since that battle, 
and the training he had done with Bruno had really paid off. Ash was 
no longer a pathetic little weakling, but quite a handsome guy. And 
the suit didn't hurt. Ash was wearing a black pair of pants, with a 
white shirt, covered by a black vest. It was like a sloppy kind of 
tux, but sloppy or not, Ash looked great in it. Wow! she thought, 
He really is pretty hot!
       As Ash continued to laugh, his mind continually strayed from 
the event. He had other things on his mind. Other things of beauty. 
Ash still couldn't believe that she had said yes when he had asked 
her on a date, but the even more frightening thing was that Misty had 
blushed when he had asked her. Could she like him? It almost seemed 
impossible, but maybe, just maybe . . .
       Ash finally calmed down, but his eyes were still fixed on 
Misty. Fortunately, she was still ordering dessert. Wow, she really 
looks great! Ash thought. For this night, their first date, Misty was 
wearing her hair down. Whatsmore, she had a pair of pearl earrings on 
that matched her sea of red hair almost perfectly. She wore a sparkling 
blue dress that ended just above her ankles. In Ash's mind, she was 
hotter than his Charizard. She hadn't physically changed much over the 
past few years, but she had matured greatly. For one, she now supplied 
Ash with some respect. She also actually cared about his opinion now, 
a great improvement. In his mind, this had all happened the day he 
beat Gary, to be named the greatest pokemon trainer in history. For 
him, that day proved that all his hard training had been worthwhile. 
For Misty, it had shown her that he was not a failure of a trainer, 
and that she should not take it as an insult to be associated with 
him.
       After paying and leaving the restaurant, the couple found 
themselves walking along a pathway on their way to Ash's home. His 
mom wasn't home, but Brock, whose vacation had just begun, willingly 
stayed there to look after their pokemon and catch up on old times.
       "That was a great meal! Boy, am I stuffed!" Ash said.
       "Yeah, that really was a nice restaurant. Thanks Ash," Misty 
began.
       Ash's house was just a few dozen feet ahead.
       "So Misty, are you doing anything next Thursday? I already 
asked Brock, and he said he wouldn't mind . . ." Ash began.
       "No, I don't think I'm doing anything, so sure, I'd love to go 
out again," she said.
       They were at the porch. They both stared at each other. Now was 
the moment. Would both their dreams finally come true? Would the match 
made in heaven join together? Then, without one word more, they both 
leaned forward, and closed their eyes. When their lips finally met, 
they stepped into each other's arms'. Their mouths stayed locked 
together for almost two minutes, before they both pulled away. They 
smiled at each other, and Ash then opened the door letting her in.
       Brock walked up to them and smiled. It was good to see these 
two together. It felt . . . right. "Oh, hi guys, have fun?" Brock 
asked. Togepi cried out to greet them, as did Pikachu.
       "We had a great time," Misty said as Ash closed the door. It 
was good to see Brock again.
       "By the way Brock, thanks so much for watching our pokemon!" 
Ash thanked his friend. After all, this was Brock's vacation. Of 
course, when Brock worked with Professor Ivy, every day was a vacation.
       "No problem! After all, it's great to see all these guys 
again!" Brock said, pointing to all their pokemon.
       A rang interrupted their conversation.
       "I'll get it," Ash said, as he walked over to the phone on the 
counter to Brock's left. He picked it up.
       "Yes, this is Ash . . . what! . . . yes, I see . . . yes, I'll 
do what I can . . . sure, no problem, bye," he said.
       "Who was it?" Misty asked.
       Ash didn't say anything.
       "Ash?" Brock said.
       "It . . . it was Lance. He said that . . . that the Elite 
Headquarters have been destroyed by some trainer, and a mysterious 
pokemon that fought like a ball of energy beat his Dragonite. It 
also killed his Dragonair," Ash stuttered.
       Brock and Misty didn't say a word. They were in shock. They had 
both seen the battle with Lance's Dragonite. It was arguably the most 
well trained pokemon ever, and had only lost three times. Now it had 
lost again. And his Dragonair . . . had Ash said that it had been 
killed?
       "Ash, did . . . did he say the pokemon's name?" Brock asked.
       "Yeah, and that was the creepiest part. This monster, the same 
one that killed his Dragonair, was named Mewtrio," Ash said.
       "Mew . . . trio?" Misty inquired, shattering the silence and 
shock. Even Togepi didn't make a sound.
       "Don't ask me, that's all I know, but if this thing was able to 
beat Lance's Dragonite, it's strong enough in my opinion," Ash said.
       The phone rang again, and this time it was Brock who answered 
it.
       "Gary? Yeah, one minute," Brock said, handing the phone to Ash.
       "Hey Gary? . . . Did you hear what happened? . . . Yeah, he 
just called me too . . . what!" Ash stopped and turned to Pikachu, 
"Hey Pikachu, turn the TV to channel three!"
       As colour infected the screen, everyone was silent. Shown 
on the television, were scenes of fire and devastation. A reporter 
appeared.
       "One may only wonder when this madness will end, but as for 
now, the best advice anyone can give is to escape from these monsters 
while you can," the reporter explained, "here we see one of these 
monsters. It has been named by pokemon officials Golechamp, and seems 
to be some type of 'crossbreed' between the pokemon Golem and Machamp. 
These officials also predict the presence of at least three more of 
these monstrous demons."
       "Oh crap . . ." Brock began.
       "What the hell is going on?" Ash asked into the phone.
       He was silent for a while, and then said "Okay, I've got you. 
Hey, Gary . . . good luck," he then hung up.
       "What did he say?" Misty asked Ash.
       "That monster on the TV, and all those like it, well . . . 
it's my job to go stop them. Gary said that he'll take care of this 
Mewtrio, and when he's done, he'll come and help me. Lance couldn't 
contact David, but when he does, he'll help me as well," Ash said 
without expression.
       "Ash . . ." Misty cried out.
       "I've got a big day tomorrow, so I'm gonna go to bed now, 
thanks for a great night Misty, and Brock, thanks to you too," Ash 
said, as he walked towards the stairs.
       "Ash," Brock said as he grabbed Ash's arm, "I'm coming with 
you . . ."
       "Me too . . ." Misty said.
       "Guys, you don't have to do this. I don't want you getting 
drawn into this. It's going to be dangerous, I mean . . . you saw that 
thing on the TV, and if the others are like it, this is going to be 
one tough challenge, and I really don't want you guys risking 
yourselves because of me," Ash said.
       "Nice speech, but too bad, we're coming along Ash," Misty said
       "Ash, you know that you need our help," Brock said.
       Ash smiled. These were his real friends, people who stuck 
together with him no matter what. A tear came to Ash's eye, but he 
blinked it away. Tomorrow would be a strenuous day, beginning the 
greatest pokemon journey ever, and three friends would start off 
right where they had started almost four years ago, from Ash's home in 
Pallet town. The only difference this time was that he didn't intend 
on battling pokemon for badges. He and his friends would be battling 
for their lives.





Chapter 3: Fire in the Woods

       Ash, Brock and Misty had just stepped into the clearing. What 
they saw before themselves didn't shock them, it scared them. What had 
once been a part of Viridian Forest now lay as a wasteland, a burned 
out charred hell. Some small fires still lived on, even after their 
source had passed. Everyone could feel the evil of the monster that 
did this. They didn't know what it was, or what it looked like, but 
it was definitely part fire type.
       "What happened?" Misty asked.
       "I don't know, but I'm guessing that if we follow the flames, 
we'll find the source," Brock said.
       "This is disgusting," Ash said as he covered a dead Rattata 
with a sheet. "No normal pokemon would have done this. Pokemon aren't 
evil, they may do evil things, but that's only by the order of their 
trainer!"
       "The weird thing is," Brock began, "that this pokemon's trainer 
is at Indigo Plateau, so we can only guess what it told this creature 
to do."
       "Or what he told the other creatures that are attacking the 
cities," Misty added.
       As they walked on in silence, each of them noticed that it was 
getting hotter and hotter. Something was wrong. The temperature was 
much too high, even for Viridian Forest. Then, as they reached the top 
of a hill, they saw why.
       "Oh my God . . ." by Ash, was all that anyone said.
       Before them, just a few hundred feet away, was a burning 
inferno of flames, which may very well have been hell itself. Trees 
were falling left and right, many of them still on fire, and at least 
two dozen pokemon ran or flew out of the demonic blaze.
       "Blastoise, I choose you!" Ash yelled out as he threw out a 
pokeball quickly.
       "Blastoise, use your Hydro Pump to put out that fire now!" he 
added.
       "Staryu, Tentacruel, you can help!" Misty cried out sending two 
more balls into the air, releasing two more pokemon.
       Without delay, the trio quickly extinguished the fire, and were 
then called back.
       "What could have done that?" Brock asked. It was a rhetorical 
question.
       A high pitched roar was then heard farther on. Ash thought he 
recognized it, but it was to high pitched to be a Charizard's . . .
       Brock on the other hand, with all his research, recognized the 
vocal patterns of two different pokemon intertwined. Ash was right, 
one of them was indeed Charizard, but the other made his blood run 
cold. If he was right, and he knew he was, this pokemon would be 
strong against any type of pokemon in battle.
       "Those are the cries of two pokemon in one!" Brock explained. 
"The first is Charizard . . ."
       "I thought so," Ash interrupted.
       "And if I'm right," Brock continued, "the other is a Scyther."
       Misty gasped. Ash gulped. And Pikatchu frowned.
       "But that would make a flying-fire-bug type pokemon, with no 
weaknesses! This creature, this 'Scythizard' is close to unbeatable!" 
Misty declared.
       "A kind of super-pokemon," Brock said, smirking.
       With that, all three quickly ran into the woods to face their 
greatest opponent ever.


       "Pinsir, go!" Samurai screamed as his Pinsir was released from 
its pokeball.
       "Pinsir, use your Seismic Toss on this thing!" he ordered.
       The creature yelled out again and jumped into the air. 
Immediately, its wings began to flap, sending gusts of wind at the 
grounded beetle. Then, as Pinsir began to run forward to carry out 
its attack, Scythizard landed in front of it with a landing so strong 
Samurai fell over. Pinsir, with adrenaline still pumping through its 
body jumped in the air, but in a blink of an eye, was back on the 
ground, lying in front of Scythizard, its right pincer lying on the 
ground. It yelled out in pain. Scythizard, standing there, proud of 
its victory cried out again. It had quickly used its razor sharp 
blades to cut off one of its opponent's pincers.
       "Pinsir, return!" Samurai cried, a tear in his eye. How had 
his Pinsir lost? It was so strong, yet with one simply stroke of this 
monster's blade, it had fallen to the ground in pain. What was he 
supposed to do now? He didn't have much of a chance now, with his 
Pinsir rendered immobile, but he still had to try. All the pokemon 
of the forest depended on him.
       "Beedrill, go!" Samurai called.
       As the Beedrill hovered in the air in front of Scythizard, the 
hybrid emitted what sounded to Samurai like a laugh. He had to agree 
that this was pretty pathetic, but he had to try!
       "Beedrill, Twin Needle attack!" he cried. But no sooner had the 
words been sounded out off his lips, was his Beedrill already burnt to 
a crisp.
       While still paralyzed from its last attack, the Beedrill fell 
to the ground, and then fell victim to Scythizard's razor blades. With 
one quick swoop, the Beedrill was impaled on Scythizard's left "arm". 
Then, it threw the dying Beedrill away into the woods, perhaps to die 
of blood loss in the next few minutes.
       Through all this, Samurai hadn't been able to move a muscle. He 
was too stunned. His Beedrill was dead before it even realized where 
it was. And it was all his fault. But no, that wasn't the truth and 
he knew it. It had been that monster Scythizard's fault. It had no 
feelings, and would probably kill itself on command. Samurai could 
describe this pokemon in one word. Dishonorable. And dishonor was a 
crime to which punishment is inevitable.
       Samurai drew his sword, and eyed the beast. It stared right 
back at him, the same coldness in his eyes. Then, Samurai ran forward, 
his sword in front of him to guide his way into the valley of revenge. 
But Scythizard was too fast. Just as Samurai had raised his blade to 
strike the demon, it slashed his belly with its claw, spilling blood 
onto the ground. Samurai fell to the ground, without uttering a sound. 
He had failed. This creature would now never have to pay for its 
crimes and would be permitted to roam freely without a care of the 
penalties of its actions. And it was all Samurai's fault.
       "Hey you!" Ash cried at the beast which stood hovering over 
some bloody heap. As Ash got a closer look, he saw that it was his 
friend Samurai.
       "Samurai!" he cried as he ran forward. Brock quickly held him 
back, even as Ash struggled.
       "Ash, wait! This thing's a real mean monster. It battles like 
a machine, not caring the occurrences of the battle, as long as the 
outcome is what his trainer wanted. I beg you, please defeat it. Do it 
not for me, or the pokemon and trees that it has killed, but for my 
Beedrill, whom suffered under its wrath. Please Ash, do this for 
me..." Samurai asked, breathing deeply, and then he finally fainted. 
Misty ran over to him, and began to treat his wounds. She had taken 
a course in first aid, but they had never covered this.
       Ash looked at the monster. It was a hideous sight. It had the 
body, wings, tail and legs of a Charizard, but its head was that of 
a Scyther's, and instead of hands, it had two long blades. Like Misty 
had said, Scythizard.
       "Pikachu, Thunderbolt now!" Ash yelled.
       At that very same moment, Scythizard flew up into the sky, 
dodging Pikachu's attack. It was no good. The creature was just too 
fast, and none of Ash's other pokemon would do any better. Misty had 
been right. This pokemon had no weaknesses in battle.
       "Ash?" Brock asked, "Would you mind if I battled this one? 
It'll help my research, and I think my Onix might be able to handle 
it."
       "Sure, but isn't Onix weak against Bug?" Ash asked.
       Brock just smiled, and threw his pokeball out. Onix, the rock 
snake appeared in front of them.
       "From the sky, Scythizard roared again.
       "Onix, Dig!" Brock commanded.
       Immediately, the stone giant burrowed underground, hiding from 
everyone's eyes. Then, unexpectedly, Onix flew from underground into 
the sky, hitting Scythizard head on.
       "Onix, now use your Bind to hold it!" Brock yelled out.
       The hybrid of fire and bug came crashing to the ground, tied up 
in Onix' long coiling tail.
       "Pikachu, now's your chance, Thunderbolt!" Ash yelled.
       At that moment, thousands of volts of electricity soared 
through Scythizard's body. Finally, when it was black, Onix was called 
back, and Pikachu ran back to Ash.
       "Pokemon, I ask you, why have you done this? Is it your 
master's idea of pleasure for you to destroy the lives of innocent 
pokemon and people alike? If it is, that's despicable, and if you 
want, you may come with us. If not, we'll take you to the police. 
Choose," Brock told the paralyzed creature.
       It then began to laugh, and pulled its tail towards its mouth, 
smiled, and screamed, for the last time "Scythizarrr!" Then, it gulped 
in a huge amount of air, and shot it right at its tail, extinguishing 
the flame. Its eyes then slowly shut, and it lay still.
       "Unbelievable," Brock said. "It feared its trainer so much that 
it killed itself. I can't believe it. Who is this trainer?"
       No one said anything else, except Misty a few moments later 
with "We have to get this guy to a hospital immediately!"





Chapter 4: A New Challenger

       Gary stared ahead, and couldn't believe what he saw. Where had 
once stood a huge building and stadium was now a very large castle. 
Gary couldn't understand what had happened. Lance had told him that it 
had been bad, but he hadn't believed it could be all that terrible. He 
was wrong.
       Rubble and rock lay strewn about, serving as a barrier between 
Gary and the demonic institute, a castle of evil. It housed the 
ultimate pokemon trainer, with the most powerful creature ever. Gary 
knew how strong Lance's Dragonite was, and he shuddered at the idea 
that something was so powerful. This pokemon trainer was either a true 
master, or a true maniac.
       Gary looked at the pile of waste and as a reaction, sent out 
his Arcanine. It was so well trained that it automatically burnt a 
path through the rubble. Gary then recalled it, and walked to the huge 
entrance doors of the castle. Gary sent a hard kick to the door, and 
it then opened. He walked in, and a pathway of lights led through 
twisted corridors of this colossal complex. What was the point in this 
giant castle? If this creature and his trainer were so powerful, why 
had they built a castle, and simply not stolen one? Was it a test of 
their power? Or proof of it?
       "Welcome, boy!" a loud voice proclaimed. The noise infected 
Gary's ears as he looked rapidly for the source of the voice. In front 
of him, out of the dark, came a monster. It was like no pokemon Gary 
had ever seen. It was tall and white, and its knuckles were 
interlocked. It had no mouth, and the only part of its body that 
wasn't white, were the two black triangles that acted as its eyes.
       "What the . . ." Gary began.
       "You obviously wish to challenge me, and my pokemon Mewtrio. So 
be it. Use as many pokemon as you desire. Everything is permitted," 
the voice explained.
       "Dodrio, go!" Gary yelled out, sending the triple bird pokemon 
out onto the black marble floors. "Dodrio, Tri Attack!"
       Mewtrio shot forward like a bullet, and before Dodrio even 
recognized him as his opponent, the monster was already in front of 
him. It slowly pushed its fists downwards, and three blades were 
released from each top-hand. They reflected the light of the ceiling 
into Gary's eyes. They were of some strong, lustrous metal. Mewtrio 
just stood there, while Dodrio was paralyzed with fear. Then, quicker 
than Gary's eyes could move, Dodrio's three heads were lying on the 
floor, decapitated. Mewtrio stood with its back turned to the dead 
bird. It had been so fast, that Dodrio hadn't even had the chance 
to squawk in pain. And now it was dead. Its three heads lay on the 
ground, and its blood sparkled on the floor. Then, that section of 
the floor fell away, and after a mechanical clang, it rose again, no 
blood, no heads, no Dodrio.
       Gary was too shocked to be sad. The monster had been so fast... 
how was it possible?
       Mewtrio flicked back its wrists, and the blades slid back into 
the tops of his hands. It stood facing Gary, expressionless.
       It finally hit Gary that his Dodrio was dead. It had been 
killed, just like Lance's Dragonair. This pokemon was pure evil. And 
Gary had to stop it. "Alright you two, lets see what you've got!" Gary 
yelled out.
       Nidoking and Exeggutor both appeared before the demon. 
"Exeggutor, Hypnosis! Nidoking, Horn Drill!" he yelled.
       Waves of energy, of sleep, flew straight towards Mewtrio. 
Nidoking pushed one foot back getting ready to charge. As the waves 
were a few feet in front of him, Mewtrio drew a circle with its hands. 
A dome was formed in front of it, and as the waves hit the shell, 
Mewtrio turned it towards Nidoking. They rebounded off of the shell 
and doubled in speed as they headed for the charging creature. They 
hit it almost immediately and Nidoking fell to the ground. Exeggutor 
stood, looking this way and that, trying to figure out what had 
happened.
       Gary called the sleeping pokemon back and sent out his 
Arcanine, ready for a fight. "Fire Spin now!" he yelled.
       Mewtrio moved his left hand slightly to the right, and using 
his psychic powers, the ring of fire moved to Mewtrio's right, 
encircling Exeggutor. It attempted to step back, but got burnt yet 
again. Even with its psychic abilities, it was trapped.
       "Arcanine, Fire Blast!" Gary ordered this time.
       A star of fire shot out of its mouth and was headed towards 
Mewtrio. As it was right in front of the cyborg, Mewtrio jumped into 
the air, and landed with his back to the shooting star. It shot its 
hands behind itself, and grabbed the blazing star. It then jumped up, 
and pulled the star of flames in front of itself. Without a second's 
hesitation, Mewtrio pushed the fire forwards to Arcanine. It hit the 
dog with strong pressure, and Gary immediately called it back . . . 
while it was still alive.
       Mewtrio then turned his gaze to the tortured Exeggutor, and 
brought its three fingers into a fist. The fire came and covered the 
poor three-headed plant. It fell to the ground, coughing. Gary called 
it back as well.
       "I'm counting on you . . . go Gyarados!" Gary said in 
desperation. This was one of the strongest pokemon he had ever 
trainer.
       Gyarados landed before Mewtrio, as the creature analyzed its 
strength.
       "Your level is 80, so you receive my respect, young Oak," 
Mewtrio declared.
       A ball of energy was formed in the dragon's mouth, as Gyarados 
knew that a Hyper Beam was the only thing that would do.
       Mewtrio glared at the dragon, when suddenly, an alien thought 
found its way into his mind.


       The Gyarados was there, preparing to shoot its most powerful 
attack. Mewtwo didn't move . . .


       At the speed of sound, a beam of pure energy came shooting 
towards him, and almost as if he were a computer and were programmed, 
Mewtrio created a wall in front of himself, and the energy shot back 
in the direction it had just come from.


       The energy hit the Gyarados, sending it back into the pool of 
water below the fountain. Its breathing slowed rapidly and its trainer 
jumped into the water to soothe his weakened pokemon.
       All eyes were on him. Mewtwo stood there smiling. They hadn't 
believed him. Well, he showed them. They didn't believe that he was a 
trainer. Well, no matter what they thought, he, and all clones were 
better than the originals.


       Gyarados flew back, and landed with a crash before Gary. He 
just shook his head in disbelief. This couldn't be happening. This 
was wrong. His Gyarados couldn't be beaten. It just wasn't right!
       Gary called his Gyarados back while the computer technicians 
were monitoring Mewtrio. There had been a malfunction in Mewtrio's 
thought process filter. Something, they weren't sure what, had entered 
Mewtrio's mind, and it shouldn't have. It was like some type of 
glitch, some impossible phenomenon that had occurred. Like a flashback 
of some sort. That didn't make sense though! Mewtrio was their 
creation, a reconstruction of a fallen soldier, with 46% original 
flesh of Mewtwo, and 54% machine. Just the same, so many mechanisms 
had been inserted into Mewtwo's brain, that they could control every 
one of his actions.
       Gary finally found it in the depths of his heart to send out 
his last pokemon, risking its health like he had risked all the 
others. His sweaty hand could barely hold the pokeball containing his 
second most powerful pokemon, so he quickly threw it into the air.
       An Alakazam appeared on the marble floor, his attention focused 
on the monstrosity before him. This was some type of hybrid of metal 
and monster, being controlled by some men somewhere out of sight. But 
the monster inside this creature wanted to be freed. He didn't want to 
be controlled. That had happened once before. Not again. Eventually, 
when the time would be right, the monster in this machine would become 
free.
       This was absurd. Mewtrio was shocked. This foolish creature was 
reading his mind. What was this all about? What was the level of this 
creature anyway . . . 90?!? Impossible! No pokemon, other than Mew, 
Lugia and himself could ever reach over level 90, and here he was, 
a level 90 Alakazam in front of him.
       "Alakazam, give it your best shot!" Gary yelled with a slight 
tinge of hope in his voice. He had noticed how Mewtrio had reacted 
when it had read his level. Maybe this was his strongest pokemon after 
all.
       Alakazam used its powers immediately and Mewtrio involuntarily 
rose into the air, but then gained control again and landed back to 
the ground. It was very impressed. He then used his powers and 
Alakazam came flying towards him. He stopped himself, so once again 
Mewtrio struggled to regain control. He had an idea. While keeping 
control over the fiendish Alakazam, he created a ball of energy and it 
grew in size to about seven feet in diameter. He then threw it forward 
at Oak's grandson, and Gary had no idea what to do. It trapped him 
inside, as if Gary where a pokemon. Gary recalled Alakazam immediately.
       "You catch pokemon, so now I caught you. Odd isn't it?" Mewtrio 
told him. Gary couldn't say anything. Mewtrio called the ball back, 
and it hovered above his hand. He then threw it off into the horizon, 
making a whole in the castle ceiling.
       As Gary, his powerful pokemon, and that outrageous Alakazam 
flew away, Rynass walked up to his pokemon.
       "Good job. Next time though, kill them all," the man said. He 
then walked away.


       Professor Oak had just finished eating his lunch and when he 
turned around, scared at what he would find, he saw his grandson, 
trapped in some sort of giant ball of electricity. He picked up a 
nearby stone and threw it at the sphere, and the ball vanished. Gary 
fell to the floor, unconscious.





Chapter 5: Powersurge

       Misty couldn't believe it. She tried to hold back her tears, 
but a few stray ones trickled down her cheek. She quickly wiped them 
away. She had to find out what had happened.
       As Misty ran ahead, Ash, Brock and Pikachu tried to keep up, 
but they didn't stand a chance. Misty had run right through a pile of 
fire and ruble, not even stopping to think. What did they expect? Her 
hometown had been utterly destroyed. Her sisters - if still alive - 
had surely lost their gym.
       As the two boys tried to make their way through, they both 
stopped when they heard a scream. They both ran forward, to see a 
group of four girls all huddled together. Misty was one of them. 
Ash couldn't make out the other three . . .
       Brock recognized Misty's sisters immediately. Their radiant 
beauty still shone through, even if their hair was covered in dirt, 
and their skin was smeared with ashes.
       "I am so happy that you're okay Misty!" Daisy squealed.
       "Like, we were totally worried about you!" Violet said.
       Then they didn't say anything. They just stood there, hugging 
each other.
       Ash and Brock walked up to them and stopped. After a few 
moments of silence, Ash asked the required question. "What did this?"
       Daisy spoke up first. "This thing, it was like some kind of 
weird Venusaur, and it just came here and, like, used this electric-
type attack to destroy everything. We and our pokemon like, didn't 
stand a chance, being water-type!"
       Misty was dumbfounded. "Did you say that it was a grass-type, 
with an electric attack?" she asked.
       "Like totally!" all three answered at the same time.
       Brock stood, holding his chin, and staring at the ground. 
This was one of the hybrid pokemon. This one was of a very peculiar 
combination. If what Daisy had said was true, that this thing were 
part electric and Venusaur, then it was part electric, part poison, 
and part grass-type. It was insane. This creature had close to no 
weaknesses! It would be ten times harder to beat this thing than 
that Scythizard creature had been.
       Ash then interrupted Brock's thoughts. "Let's go beat this 
thing! Daisy, where did you say that this thing was?" Ash asked.
       "Ash, are you crazy!" Misty screamed. "Do you really want 
to fight this thing? That's insane!"
       Brock finally spoke up. "Misty, although you're worry is 
extremely called for, I think that if we all use our pokemon, then 
maybe we can beat this monster."
       Nobody said anything for a few seconds, when finally Daisy 
spoke up, answering Ash's question. "The monster headed south, to 
Saffron City. Before you guys go though, can Misty and I have a 
little talk?"
       "Sure," Ash said.
       Misty and Daisy walked away, and stopped behind a car that was 
on its side.
       "So Misty, are you really gonna go? I mean, unless this guy's 
your boyfriend, I'd like, never go near that thing again. I mean, 
like, look around! This thing doesn't play fair." Daisy said.
       Misty began to blush, but Daisy didn't notice. "Daisy, he's my 
boyfriend, and I know that this is going to be dangerous, but I trust 
him, and I know that he can beat anything that comes between him and 
being the best pokemon master. And another thing, even if I am risking 
my life, the two of us have done that so many times that it can't be 
counted. If he goes somewhere, I'm going to follow him, no matter 
what," Misty responded.
       Daisy stood there, a tear being formed in the corner of her 
eye. "Well Misty, looks like you've finally grown up. Guess even 
though you don't look so great, you're loyal to your friends, and I 
guess that's just as good. Just promise me one thing, would ya? Misty, 
please don't get too close to this thing, because, between you and me, 
there's no way that you're a good enough trainer to even make that 
monster turn his head."
       "What!" Misty said, her voice rising tremendously so that even 
Ash and Brock could hear it, one hundred feet away.
       Daisy laughed and walked away. Misty couldn't believe it. She'd 
show her. Daisy had no idea what she was talking about.


       They had found the creature easily enough by simply following 
the fire. Smoke, destruction, agony, ruins - they were all synonyms 
for this monster.
       Brock had named the beast Electasaur after just seeing it once 
since he had recognized that it was part Electabuzz.
       The creature itself was about three meters long and three 
meters wide, and its bulb continually sprouted until it was about six 
meters from the ground. Electasaur really looked like a different type 
of Venusaur, but the trio saw the difference. It's body and leaves 
were the same, except they were covered with black, jagged stripes. 
The bulb of the creature was also the same as that on a Venusaur, 
except it had the same stripes as its body. Then came the real 
difference. On top of the bulb was a bed of thick spikes surrounding 
the base of what appeared to be the beast's power source. A huge 
sphere, with a thick base amongst the spikes, sat at the top of the 
monster, sending small shocks of electricity around the sphere. It 
appeared to be a giant electrode of some sort.
       "Charizard . . ." Ash began, but was stopped by Misty and Brock.
       "Quiet!" Brock whispered, "We're trying to sneak up on this 
thing!"
       "And besides," Misty explained, "I've got to beat this thing 
on my own."
       Ash and Brock's jaws dropped.
       "You don't understand. This thing destroyed my home, my 
friends, and their lives. I need to do this you guys!" she explained.
       Brock simply shook his head, as Ash stood there, not believing 
his ears. He knew that when Misty wanted to do something, she would 
end up doing it, but there was no way that her pokemon could handle 
this.
       Without another word, Misty threw out a pokeball. Her Gyarados 
sat before her. "Gyarados, use your Dragon Rage attack, but first, 
sneak up behind it!" she commanded quietly. She had put a lot into 
training her Gyarados, but it had been worth it. It was stronger than 
all of Brock's pokemon, and only Pikachu and Charizard could beat it 
for Ash.
       Electasaur sat there, relaxing. It had destroyed the last city, 
but had to recharge. It would only take about a minute, but if that 
group of people behind it interfered, he would have to start 
recharging all over again.
       Gyarados flew forwards so fast that Ash couldn't even see it. 
Neither could Electasaur.
       The great dragon shot a huge blaze of fire at the plant 
creature, knowing that this grass-poison-electric-type pokemon would 
be weak against a fire attack.
       No sooner had the fire emerged from Gyarados' mouth, than 
Electasaur shot a huge bolt of electricity from its sphere. The bolt 
pierced the fire, disintegrating it, and hit Gyarados with the same 
type of impact as a freight train to a stick.
       Ash and Brock stared in horror, as did Pikachu.
       Misty had already called her prized pokemon back before the 
tail of the lightning bolt had hit it. This couldn't be happening. 
That . . . that . . . that . . . Thing hadn't even put any effort 
into beating her best. She was in shock.
       The monster then turned around to face its three challengers. 
It noticed a girl with a pokeball in her hand. She looked pretty. She 
would make a delicate and excellent meal.
       Two long, thick vines shot forwards to Misty. They came so 
quickly, that no one had even had time to warn her. One strapped 
around her waist, the other around her arms.
       "Pikachu, go!" Ash cried as his love was being pulled away.
       Pikachu ran forward, but quickly stopped after being hit with 
one of Electasaur's thunderbolts. It lay on the ground, motionless.
       Ash ran forward, to face the beast himself. It couldn't do 
this. First Misty, and now Pikachu! Enough was enough.
       "Hey you!" he yelled as he ran forwards.
       Another bolt of electricity was formed from Electasaur's 
sphere, this one hitting Ash's body. He fell to the ground, as had 
Pikachu. For a few moments, his brain froze. Then, it began to work 
again, Ash still unconscious.
       Misty screamed and began to cry.
       Brock had to do something. His Onix might actually stand a 
chance, electric and poison attacks not being effective against it.
       "Onix, go!" he cried.
       Two small leaves, reflecting light into Brock's eyes, came 
flying from underneath Electasaur's larger leaves. They hit Onix in 
two joints the moment he emerged from his pokeball. Brock called him 
back immediately. 
       Even while Onix' ball was still in Brock's hand, he was hit 
with one of Electasaur's infamous thunderbolts, sending him into 
unconsciousness.
       Misty stopped screaming, and began to kick about with all her 
might. She was only feet away from the hybrid's colossal mouth. Saliva 
dripped downwards, as if inviting her into its wonderful world.
       Pikachu looked up. Misty was in trouble. He had to help her. He 
had to do it for Ash. He liked Ash, and Ash liked Misty. Pikachu had 
to do it for all the people who had suffered. He had to do it for 
Brock. He had to do it for his trainer and friend. He had to do it 
for Misty, whom he had been friends with ever since the beginning. By 
allowing Ash to use her bike, Misty had saved Pikachu, and now he had 
to return the favor.
       Pikatchu quickly got up, and ran towards the beast. He dodged 
multiple leaves and lightning bolts, and he finally jumped into the 
air, sending all that he had into the sphere atop this monstrosity's 
back.
       Electasaur froze. Just inches from his mouth had been Misty, 
who now lay on the ground.
       With a howl of pain, the sphere of electricity shattered, going 
up in a ball of fire. The bulb underneath it began to fall apart, 
leaving strands of acidic sap between each piece as they slid off the 
dying monster's back. 
       Each leaf wilted and fell to the ground, and smoke began to 
rise from the monster's body. It was melting. Its bulb had maintained 
its power, but now that it was gone, Electasaur was melting down. 
       With one last scream, the almost-dead creature let out the 
first real noise it had ever made. "Sauuuur!"
       Misty got up, and quickly ran towards Pikachu, who was lying in 
the dirt. It had no more energy left in its body. She scooped the limp 
electric-mouse under her arm and ran over to Ash, who lay still on the 
ground. She began to sob, but without hesitation reached for his arms, 
and slung the unconscious trainer over her back. She stopped for a 
moment, realizing that Ash weighed a lot more than she had hoped.
       Misty then ran, or more appropriately, limped over to Brock, 
who shared the same fate as Ash. There was no way that she would be 
able to carry him as well as Ash and Pikachu.
       In desperation, Misty put Ash down, picked up her pack, 
released her Tentacruel, and then returned the pack, Togepi still 
inside, around her neck. "Hey . . . Tentacruel," she panted, "do 
you think that maybe you'd be able to carry Brock for me?"
       As Tentacruel struggled to get a firm grip on Brock, Misty 
slung Ash over her shoulder once again. Pikachu was still tucked 
under her arm, and then Tentacruel and she began their search for 
a hospital.
       After about ten minutes, Misty was ready to collapse, and did, 
right after taking three steps into the Saffron Pokemon Center.
       Nurse Joy, who had been treating all sorts of burns and 
electric wounds, quickly ran over to the two trainers and Pikachu. 
Tentacruel then entered, dropping Brock onto the floor, and returning 
itself into its pokeball that had fallen out of Misty's bag onto the 
floor.


       When Misty woke up, she didn't remember a thing. Then, like a 
brick, it came upon her. The whole fight - her being trapped, Ash and 
Brock getting knocked out . . . Pikachu saving her - she remembered it 
all.
       Misty opened her eyes then, and saw a bright light. Sitting on 
her stomach was Pikachu, asleep. Beside her she found her sack, Togepi 
and all her pokemon - healed -safe inside.
       Misty sighed and fell back onto the bed. It was all right now. 
Everything was all right. Electasaur was dead, thanks to Pikachu, and 
everything was going to be okay. Or was it? Misty suddenly remembered 
how she had gotten to the pokemon center, and quickly jumped out of 
bed, sending Pikachu flying to the foot of the bed. He still remained 
asleep. He was tired.
       Misty began to look left and right, but couldn't spot Ash or 
Brock anywhere. She walked out into the hallway, it was silent, and 
walked into the room adjacent hers. Inside, on two separate beds, she 
found Ash and Brock, asleep.
       Misty slowly and silently walked up to Ash, and, while crying, 
began to laugh. "Ash, look what you've done now. I told you that we 
shouldn't have fought that thing," she said softly, laughing.
       Then, Misty leaned over and kissed Ash on his dry lips. She 
looked up at Brock, and then walked back to her bed. It obviously 
wasn't meant for a person, after all, this was a pokemon center, but 
it would do. 
       Misty landed on the bed with a soft thump, and again, Pikachu 
did not stir.
       Soon, sleep once again claimed Misty, and it then kept her for 
several more hours.






Chapter 6: Displeasure

       Giovanni turned his chair back to face his desk. He tapped his 
fingers on the desk. He was extremely displeased. This whole Mewtrio 
escapade was preposterous.
       Persian walked up to his owner. A hand greeted his fury back 
and petted his poor hide. He couldn't stand seeing his owner like 
this. When Giovanni was mad, the world stopped, and there was trouble.
       Giovanni didn't like this at all. Mewtwo, no, Mewtrio, 
shouldn't have been breathing at that moment.


       The helicopter had been following the monster for a few hours 
now. Fortunately, he hadn't noticed.
       Mewtwo was finally enjoying life as he flew along. He had 
finally discovered life's values.
       Suddenly, a missile was launched from the helicopter preceding 
Giovanni's. Mewtwo, sensing the presence of danger, swerved to the 
side, once again calm. His reflexes now proved to assist him in both 
battling other pokemon, and mankind.
       Suddenly, the projectile swerved to match Mewtwo, and hit him 
in the chest.
       Mewtwo gasped, as he felt pain for the first time. Then, while 
still recovering from the first attack, another missile hit the 
genetically engineered pokemon in the face.
       Mewtwo fell down from the sky, and landed on an island below 
him. As he hit it, Giovanni's helicopter began its decent towards the 
island.
       Mewtwo could barely move. A warm substance - blood he assumed - 
covered his body. Some odd feeling came over him. He supposed that it 
was pain, but he knew that he didn't like it.
       Then, as Mewtwo began to get up, a net was flung over him, and 
was hooked into the ground. Then, at that very same moment, hundreds 
of thousands of volts of electricity surged through his body. Mewtwo 
twitched for a few moments and he then finally ended, completely 
overwhelmed with pain. This wasn't right. This was no way to be 
treated, even for a pokemon. He had committed no crimes, and what's 
more, almost no one even knew of his presence.
       A voice then gave birth to memories to which Mewtwo had 
banished from his mind, but had now returned.
       Giovanni stepped out of his helicopter, and motioned to his 
Persian to remain in the safety of the helicopter. His Persian had 
already risked its life too many times in the presence of this 
monster. "Well well well. Looks like we meet again, you traitor!" 
Giovanni yelled out to the dying creature.
       Not again! Would he never be free of his horrible past! Mewtwo 
tried to sigh, but didn't have enough oxygen in his lungs to do such. 
He was dying.
       "Looks like you're on the other end of the rope this time, you 
monstrosity!" Giovanni laughed at the monster. A number of Rocket 
members stood surrounding their boss, armed with assault rifles and 
flame throwers. "There is a saying that we normal creatures say around 
here, and it says that one should always act responsibly for their 
creations actions. Well, its my turn to finally give to this world for 
all that they have done for me. Now, you will suffer even more. No, 
killing you would be too easy. I'll let you suffer like you let all my 
staff suffer when you killed them. I'll see you in hell. No - I take 
that back - freaks like you don't have an afterlife. Goodbye, you 
officious vampire!" Giovanni said. He then snapped his fingers, and 
streams of bullets and flames were shot at the dying monster. It 
howled in pain.
       "No!" Mewtwo screamed. That was the last time his mind, as it 
was then, ever enjoyed the world of being conscious.
       Giovanni walked back into his helicopter. "Stop!" he yelled 
out. With that, the two dozen men ran back into their helicopters. 
As they rose off the ground, one remained on the island, to accompany 
the dying monster into the land of the dead. It was loaded with 
explosives, and in fifteen minutes, the island, and Mewtwo, would be 
erased forever.
       Giovanni looked out the helicopter window, and, for the last 
time, or so he thought, he saw his worst mistake.
       Just as the helicopter flew off into the distance, a submarine 
rose out of the ocean. A man walked out from the submarine and up to 
the dying beast. His ponytail flew in the wind. He knelt down to the 
unconscious creature and whispered "Don't worry. Everything will work 
out just fine."
       Rynass then signaled out his crew from the submarine. They had 
less than five minutes to leave with this close to dead monster.

       Giovanni had never found out who that person had been, the one 
who had stolen Mewtwo's cadaver, but at this point, he didn't care. He 
had been the one who had created Mewtwo, and it was his responsibility 
to destroy it. He said that it was to save humanity, but deep down 
inside the depths of his dark soul, Giovanni kept reminding himself 
that this monster, this cyborg, was part Mewtwo, and, as with all 
creatures, that meant that somewhere behind all the technology which 
infected his brain, lurked the dark intentions of revenge. Giovanni 
had met with revenge a great many times, and he feared it, for revenge 
was like some type of miracle drug, perfecting the senses and 
heightening the abilities of its bearer. Giovanni was scared of very 
little, and revenge was a great deal of that little.
       Giovanni pressed a button which sat on his desk, and then 
spoke out "send in Mr.Keaton." Almost immediately, a young man, about 
twenty, walked in. He was dressed casually, wearing a T-shirt and 
cargo-pants. Strapped to his waist was a belt, holding about fifteen 
pokeballs. They all had an "R" stamped on them.
       "Sir," David said as he knelt down to greet his boss. He owed 
everything he had to the man which he now presented himself to. His 
fame, his fortune . . . his pokemon, all gifts from Boss Rocket who 
had obviously seen the skill that this boy possessed, and had 
harnessed his abilities, nurtured them, and then rewarded them.
       "My boy, I assume that you have heard the news?" Giovanni 
asked in his low, rough voice.
       "Yes sir," he answered.
       "Well, I want you to go and battle this super pokemon at Indigo, 
capture it, and stop all this nonsense of this foolish trainer. He has 
invaded my territory, and I think that it would be nice to escort his 
departure," Giovanni commanded. This was his best trainer. Only the 
best pokemon would do for David Keaton, and that was why he had beaten 
that Lance character. All David's pokemon were extremely strong, being 
stolen from the best trainers. They obeyed his every words, and were 
close to unbeatable. Close, however, but no cigar.
       "I understand sir, but, tell me, why do I stand a chance, if 
even Gary Oak failed?" he asked.
       Giovanni opened a drawer to his left and pulled out a red 
pokeball. It, unlike the rest of David's did not have an "R" on it, 
but and "M". Giovanni held it in his hand and then laid it down on the 
desk. "Young Oak lost because his pokemon were too weak. I admit that 
yours are about as strong as his, but you have one advantage . . ." he 
pointed to the ball on his desk. "This is Moltres, the legendary Fire-
bird pokemon. It is one of the strongest pokemon in the world, and has 
taken me years to catch. Now, however, it is in Team Rocket's 
possession, and shall serve you well. Its power is exponential, so 
treat it with care, and only use it if you must, for it may not take 
kindly to being caught. After all, this great beast is one of the 
rarest pokemon in the world, and is worth more money than there is on 
this planet, so don't lose it," Giovanni paused. This was indeed the 
strongest pokemon on the team, and was most probably the most rare 
and powerful pokemon to ever be caught. It was worth more than even 
Giovanni could possibly imagine. "Take it now, Mr. Keaton, and I pray 
you, do not fail me."
       David leaned forward, grabbed the pokemon, hooked to his belt, 
saluted to his boss, and left. He had a huge task to perform.
       As David left, Giovanni surprisingly still felt unsure of 
himself. For some reason, even now that his best man was on the case - 
who was also one of the best pokemon trainers ever - Giovanni was 
still uneasy. What he really needed was that Ketchum fellow's Pikachu.
       He had it! Giovanni once again called to his secretary, except 
this time demanding the presence of Team Rocket's least successful 
members. Jessie, James and Meowth then entered the room, all on their 
hands and knees begging for forgiveness.
       "Get up, you fools!" he yelled out. Maybe this wasn't such a 
good idea . . .
       Quickly, the threesome jumped to their feet, and began to whine 
for forgiveness. "Please forgive us sir, we have failed you yet again. 
Alas, we still have not captured 'dat Pikachu," Meowth cried out, 
Jessie and James' heads hanging even lower than his.
       "I've noticed, so I've decided to give you a different job," he 
said. He was praying that he wouldn't regret this. "I've decided to 
give you a much more important mission, but if you do this properly, 
then I shall forgive you for your previous errors."
       "What is it you want us to do?" Jessie asked, confusion being 
expressed all over her face.
       "The threesome that you are often attempting to capture have 
been undergoing my observations for quite some time now, and I have 
discovered that Mr. Ketchum's weakness is not his Pikachu, but his 
friends. The two who often accompany him - Brock Slate and Misty 
Waterflower - may serve far more purpose for me than that Pikachu ever 
could. What I want you to do is kidnap one of them, and take them to 
the building in Celadon. And leave this letter . . ." Giovanni said as 
he handed them an envelope. "This is your last chance, so don't screw 
it up!"
       "Yes sir!" they replied in unison. They then quickly ran out 
of the room before they were given an even more difficult task.
       As the trio left the building, they continued to debate who 
they would capture.
       "I've always wanted to show that loudmouth little girl that 
she's not so hot!" Jessie explained.
       "But that Brock character is constantly pulverizing our 
pokemon!" James brought up.
       "But if we get the girl brat, the one the other twerp likes, 
then he'll be more eager to save her. After all, they are in love!" 
Jessie tried to explain.
       "I doesn't matter who we capture, so long as we capture one 
of 'em!" Meowth cried out. They had to get going, or they would never 
please their boss, and then Meowth would never get to serve Giovanni 
like his Persian!






Chapter 7: A Dormant Kidnap and a Stone Cold Fight

       The trio walked on towards Vermilion City in hopes of finding 
the monster that they had seen on the news. Perhaps they would find 
this monster - Golechamp was its name - and maybe they could beat it 
too. But before they did anything, there was Saffron City to get 
through. This would be difficult, since there was fire and rubble 
lying everywhere. Electasaur had done its damage, but there was one 
problem remaining even now that they had gotten through all that 
madness. Facing the lot of youths was a giant, solid brick wall. They 
didn't know where it had come from, but it was here now, and that was 
all that mattered at this moment.
       "Wow," Ash simply said.
       "Where the heck did that come from?" Brock asked.
       Misty walked up to the wall and knocked on it. She pulled back 
her hand, crying out in pain and then began to kiss it.
       Smoke began to form around part of the wall where Misty's hand 
had touched. Suddenly, a fist shot forth out of the wall. A young 
woman then walked out, dressed exactly like Misty with the same 
hairstyle. The only difference was that the imposter Misty was not 
crying back in pain, but frowning.
       "What the . . ." Ash began.
       The fake Misty walked up to the original and laughed. "Hi 
honey!" she said as she pushed her original onto the ground.
       "What's the matter boys? Jealous?" the evil Misty asked as 
the two guys walked away from her. They were heading towards the wall, 
but it was too late for Ash, and he was already in contact with the 
burning bricks. He burnt his elbows and moved away from the wall, just 
to get pushed back into the wall by the evil Misty.
       Ash disappeared into the wall, and out came another Ash, this 
one slightly less happy. Brock was trapped in between the pair of evil 
clones. Just as they began to push him back and forth, a shattering 
sound was heard as a metal pipe went into the fake Misty. The clone 
shattered, behind it standing Misty holding a pipe she had found in a 
pile of trash. Brock then shot his foot into the fake Ash, who also 
broke just like a porcelain figurine. Both figures now lay in piles of 
glass on the ground. Brock and Misty looked at each other and then ran 
into the wall. The pain flashed through their bodies for just a 
moment, but it then ended, and they were in the same atmosphere as 
they had been on the other side of the wall. Except there was one 
difference here. In front of the trio was a monster. The creature was 
quite tall, and had the dark purple body and face of a Gengar, but it 
had the arms and legs of an Alakazam. In both of its hands it held a 
spoon, but the funniest feature of this monster was that this 
creature, this Gengazam, had a huge mustache.
       "Gengazam!" it laughed out, unimpressed by these people and 
their pokemon who stood before him.
       "I don't believe it," Brock said, "it's a psychic and ghost 
type pokemon! It is literally unstoppable!"
       "Pikachu, see what you can do!" Ash said as his pokemon ran 
forwards.
       A huge ball of electricity shot at Gengazam, but he stuck up 
his spoons, and the energy was shot back at Pikachu. The small mouse 
saw it coming, and bounced it back. When Gengazam saw this energy 
returning back at him, he simply let it go through him. The energy 
continued on into the distance, and never ended for quite a while. 
Gengazam, surprised by the power that this pokemon possessed, laughed 
out its name again.
       "Ash, we cannot beat this thing unless we use another psychic 
pokemon, and since I don't see one, I suggest that we wait until we've 
beaten all of these other hybrids. So, I really think we should get 
out of here," Brock explained.
       Ash and Misty sighed, but knew that this was the truth, so they 
turned their backs to the monster and they left him behind.
       Gengazam stopped laughing. This was not funny. His audience was 
leaving. He had to stop them. With a swing of his arm, a giant rock 
formed right in front of the group who had abandoned their opponent. 
They stopped, and turned around. A set of waves met them, and at that 
moment, Ash and all his gang fell to the ground, asleep.
       The monster, pleased with himself, then teleported off towards 
his master.
       Team Rocket, who had been watching this from the beginning now 
saw their chance. They ran up to the mass of sleeping people, and to 
take Brock was all that they could think of. He was not completely 
entangled underneath the other two, and would be easy to remove from 
the pile of sleeping bodies.
       As they both picked up Brock, they dropped him back to the 
ground. There was no way, no way at all, that they would be able to 
take him to the nearby van. They turned their gaze to Misty. Without 
a word, they pulled her from underneath Ash, and raised her into the 
air. As they began to stumble away from the other two, Misty's bag 
fell to the ground, landing right next to Ash, beside the letter they 
had left for him.


       Ash and Brock both woke up at the same time, startled to find 
that Misty was gone. Ash walked over to her bag to find that her 
pokeballs still inside. On the ground beside it was a letter. Ash 
picked it up and read it. He looked to Brock and said "Brock, we're 
going to Celadon City, that's where they've taken Misty!"
       "Who are they?" Brock asked.
       "Our friends Jessie, James, and Meowth," Ash explained.
       As they walked on, a loud noise could be heard in the distance. 
It came from the route between Saffron and Celadon.
       "That's Golechamp!" Brock exclaimed.
       "Well, he's along the way, so I suppose we may as well battle 
him," Ash said.
       It wasn't long until they found the monster. He was a colossal 
creature, with the rock body of Golem, as well as his head. He had the 
four arms and two legs of Machamp and was holding a car in his hand, 
shaking it around.
       "This'll be no problem. With an ice pokemon, he'll crack up!" 
Ash said. But there was one problem - he was wrong. Neither Ash nor 
Brock owned any ice pokemon, so there was a slight problem. Then Ash 
remembered. Misty! He had Misty's pokemon. As he rummaged through her 
pokeballs, he finally found the one he had been looking for.
       "Dewgong, go!" Ash yelled out. The confused Dewgong didn't 
understand where its owner was, but it realized that the monster in 
front of it was standing between it and its trainer.
       "Dewgong, Aurora Beam!" Ash yelled.
       Just as the monster turned its head to greet Ash and Brock, 
a beam of ice hit him, entrapping the hybrid in a block of ice.
       Ash called back the Dewgong and as the monster's stone body 
began to crack, Pikachu ran forwards, Ash smiled. Even now, he could 
sense that he was closer to Misty.
       A thunderbolt hit the encased creature, and as the ice 
shattered, so did Golechamp's rock body. He didn't feel pain, but 
he knew that he was dying. As a huge slate, the foundation of the 
creature's head, fell to the ground, it screamed one last time. Only 
minutes ago he had been smashing down trees and crushing houses and 
cars, but now here he was, falling apart like some type of Humpty 
Dumpty. Golechamp gazed up at the sky as his vision faded. Damn it, 
how he hated life. He had never had the chance to do what he wanted, 
and had only had the chance to serve his trainer. This was pathetic.
       Ash, Brock, Pikatchu, and Togepi, who had just woken up in 
tears, continued along their was to Celadon. Togepi wouldn't be quiet. 
Its trainer, its mother, was missing. It needed its mother. It liked 
its trainer. Togepi's trainer was a real trainer.






Chapter 8: Team Rocket Blasts Off

       The technician placed the thick rubber layer onto the 
disgusting cyborg in front of him. Sure, Mewtrio was an excellent 
fighter, but when his skin wasn't on, he was a gruesome sight. Flesh 
and muscles sat imbedded inside metallic mechanisms, but there was 
always some piece of flesh sitting here or there. The technician was 
grateful that he had been chosen for the programming area of the 
Mewtrio project, and not the physical reconstruction. Fixing machines 
was easier than fixing living things.
       "Hey Jim, is that thing ready?" another man asked from behind 
a desk.
       "Yeah, he's ready. You sure that the glitch is gone, Pete?" the 
technician asked his friend and accomplice.
       "No problem. Just don't tell the boss that I didn't run a full 
scan of his brain. I did the command section of his brain, but I have 
better things to do with my life than run a full scan," the 
neurologist said.
       The man behind the desk typed in a few commands, and suddenly, 
Mewtrio flexed his arm. He was alive again. Conscience had returned. 
Without word, the creature walked over to a platform that then rose 
up, leaving the laboratory hundreds of feet below their master's 
castle.
       They had originally signed onto this project after being 
offered a very large sum of money. Still to date however, they hadn't 
received a cent.
       Their jobs were important! Without the many technicians behind 
Mewtrio, he would never have lived and Mewtwo would have remained 
being a dying mass of blood and power. They had harnessed Mewtwo's 
power, while at the same time giving him many machine characteristics. 
Thanks to their help, Mewtrio was unbeatable. Many motors and 
mechanisms had been added to his body, making Mewtrio faster than the 
speed of sound, and he was also capable of reflecting his energy 
exponentially. Mewtrio was unstoppable.
       Just the same, there was one problem. Somehow, by some 
unpredictable phenomena, not all of Mewtwo's memorial sector of his 
brain had been irradicated.
       No matter. The minor interruption in their programming would 
not cause any problems, so long that it would not return. After many 
tests, they already knew that Mewtrio was like a robot, never 
questioning his command, but doing whatever his master desired, almost 
systematically. Mewtrio was under control. If they didn't want him to, 
Mewtrio wouldn't even breath. He was their creation. Their slave.


       The doors opened. Rynass got up from his throne. Who dared to 
intrude so boldly on his fort? Whoever it was, he would eliminate 
them. Without a word, Mewtrio walked out from the darkness, awaiting 
the order to attack.
       "Who do you think you are, boy?" Rynass addressed the young 
man who stood before him.
       The reports had been right. For some reason, this Rynass man 
was badly scarred on his face, with some type of burn. "My name is 
David Keaton, and I have come to challenge you to a pokemon battle, 
for you have intruded on my territory."
       Rynass laughed. Yes, he had hoped that this boy would come. 
After moping up Oak's grandson, he had expected that one of the other 
trainers who had beaten the Elite Four would come challenge him. Well, 
after this battle, this boy wouldn't have any pokemon to challenge 
anyone with.
       Without another word, Mewtrio walked up, only twenty feet in 
front of David. David threw out a pokeball. A Golem landed before him.
       Before David had ordered this stolen Golem to do anything, 
Mewtrio had already embedded his elbow into the creature's rock body. 
Golem, and his owner, could not move. David was stunned. Cracks formed 
along Golem's body. One of his stone bricks fell to the ground with a 
loud slam. David, who finally heard the cries of pain of the Golem, 
called it back. In exchange, he sent out his Machamp. Mewtrio jumped 
back fifty feet.
       "Machamp, use your Fissure attack!" David screamed.
       Just as these words were exclaimed, Mewtrio stuck out his right 
arm, sticking his three fingers out.
       Machamp, lowered himself, getting ready to jump, but he never 
got the chance to. Mewtrio's hand rested on his forehead, his three 
fingers still extended. Machamp fell to the ground, no longer 
breathing. The impact of Mewtrio's hand had been so strong that the 
shock waves had sent his brain full force into the back of his skull, 
turning his command center into a gray mush.
       David frowned. This wasn't right. Giovanni wouldn't be happy to 
know that he had lost a Machamp. David's hand hesitated as he reached 
for his next pokeball. Then he sent out a Venusaur.
       "Venusaur, use your Vine Whip!" he ordered.
       Two long, thick, green ropes emerged from underneath Venusaur's 
leaves. They were heading for Mewtrio at full speed. Mewtrio grabbed 
them with his hands. He quickly laced them around his wrists once, 
and then pulled his arms back with great force. An explosion of green 
liquid could be seen next to where the break had been made. Venusaur 
quickly withdrew what remained of his vines. He didn't know what to do.
       Mewtrio quickly dropped the pieces of vines to the ground. 
Then, he reeled his right arm back, forming a "z". Once again, his 
fingers were extended. Then, the slammed his left hand onto his huge 
bicep. Suddenly, a beam of light shot out of his right palm. It hit 
Venusaur's bulb head on, and blew it to pieces. This pokemon also fell 
to the ground dead.
       David was furious. Now, he had to use his best. Why was this 
creature so strong?
       Rynass was overjoyed. Mewtrio had now killed two of the three 
pokemon that had been sent out. Whatever his glitch had been, the 
mystery workers behind Mewtrio had corrected it.
       David then sent out another pokemon. Vaporeon sat on the 
ground. "Vaporeon, Agility!"
       Faster than the speed of light, Vaporeon ran swerving on the 
floor. Neither David nor Rynass could see it. Now, Rynass thought, 
was the time to test how well Mewtrio perceived images.
       Through Mewtrio's screen monitor, a blur could be seen running 
back and forth along the screen. Immediately, the computer in his 
brain calculated every future movement of the creature. To add to this 
a red square had formed around the speedy water pokemon. Then, as it 
drew closer to the cyborg, the numbers "10" came up on his display 
window.
       Without anyone other than Mewtrio himself knowing what 
happened, a ball of energy flew from his hand, hitting the Vaporeon 
right in its face. The speedy pokemon flew back all the way to David, 
who immediately called it back.
       Mewtrio stood, and Rynass laughed, obviously impressed. Then, 
Rynass suddenly stopped. The one pokemon he hadn't ever wanted Mewtrio 
to have to fight now stood before them. David had sent out a Gengar. A 
ghost pokemon.
       Mewtrio ran up to the monster, and began sending many punches 
into the ghost. They had no effect. Then, Mewtrio began to send blasts 
of energy into the monster. They all went right through him.
       Mewtrio was agitated. He hadn't expected this. How would he 
beat something that he couldn't hit? He quickly called up the known 
information on Gengar. As small series of text ran through his head, 
one brief message remained in his mind. " . . . can easily choose to 
allow attacks through him, which requires his preparations . . .". 
Choose. Mewtrio had a plan.
       As Gengar laughed out his name, Rynass was disgusted that 
this pathetic child had found a way to win against Mewtrio. This was 
preposterous! Mewtrio was the ultimate pokemon, and here he was, being 
taken to school by this ghost!
       Mewtrio allowed his two hands to face each other, with about 
two feet in between them, and then a beam of energy was created 
between them. "I can't win," he said out loud, and at that moment he 
pulled the energy to his face. The almighty Mewtrio then fell to his 
knees, and then flat on the ground.
       Rynass was stunned. His soldier, his ultimate weapon, had 
kamikazeed. He couldn't believe it. Now it was all over. This child 
would eliminate him from his castle, but the police would eliminate 
him from the planet. Rynass was screwed.
       Those damn engineers! It must have been their fault. They must 
have done something wrong and now Mewtrio was dead. Well, if Mewtrio 
was dead, all those who worked on him would be too.
       Rynass began to cry. Not out of pity or remorse, but because he 
knew that he would have his ass kicked.
       Gengar began to shout out his name. He had won! David stood 
behind him. He was smiling as well. Even if he had lost a Venusaur and 
Machamp, Giovanni probably wouldn't mind, now that he had beaten this 
cold blood killer.
       Gengar walked up to Mewtrio and continued to laugh. He kicked 
the dead monster, and then stopped laughing. Something was wrong . . .
       Mewtrio's hand shot up, going through Gengar's illusionary 
body. The ghost didn't feel pain, but was in shock to see that this 
creature was still alive.
       David pulled his head back. He couldn't believe it. Neither 
could Rynass, who began to laugh.
       Mewtrio raised his head to meet Gengar's squinting eyes. The 
ghost pokemon couldn't escape. Mewtrio was using a Powerlock attack, 
holding Gengar. One of Mewtrio's hands was against Gengar's back, 
while its palm was facing his other hand, which lay on Gengar's face. 
Then, a surge of energy flew between Mewtrio's two hands, going in and 
around Gengar's body. The ghost was too surprised to allow this energy 
to go through him, and was now suffering the consequences.
       Mewtrio dropped the Gengar to the ground, but David did not 
call it back. It was still alive, he knew that, but David was too 
disgusted to care. Mewtrio had faked his death, just so that he would 
get the chance to attack again. This creature was more than a pokemon.
       Rynass was laughing. This creature was incredible. This 
monster, whom he had taken to be weak and stupid, was not only strong, 
but was capable of planning out strategies and using them. Remarkable, 
Rynass thought.
       David's hand clasped around the pokeball. He had no choice. 
He hadn't wanted to use this one, but it looked like he had no other 
options.
       "Moltres, go!" David yelled.
       Rynass was blinded by a red light, as was David. Mewtrio just 
stood there, watching the majestic bird form. Embers flew everywhere, 
some landing on Mewtrio, but they did not burn. No, this pokemon would 
not hurt him. Moltres was too smart for that. Moltres had read 
Mewtrio's mind, and had clearly seen what devious novels where being 
written. Moltres knew that he had no need to interfere. He was simply 
going to hover in the air, allowing everyone to admire him.
       Rynass couldn't believe his eyes, or, more appropriately, the 
pain in his eyes. A Moltres! How had this legendary pokemon been 
caught? It just didn't make sense. "Mewtrio, destroy this . . . this 
. . . this thing now!" he ordered.
       But Mewtrio had no intentions of doing that. He was in no 
danger. Perhaps Rynass was, but Mewtrio was safe, and Moltres was as 
well.
       "Moltres, attack!" David commanded.
       Neither pokemon moved. They simply stood there, staring at one 
another. Finally, Mewtrio spoke up "Moltres, I know that you don't 
want to be here, so go, leave!" As the white demon said this, the 
pokeball in David's hand exploded, sending little pieces of metal into 
his wrist. Small trails of blood began their journey down his wrist.
       Moltres stared at Mewtrio for a moment, and then flew off, 
going right through the ceiling of the castle. Rynass looked at 
Mewtrio. He was not happy.
       David pulled his hand away from his right wrist. Enough was 
enough. Moltres was now gone. He had to do something, in vain hopes 
of staying alive. He needed to return to Giovanni with some other 
pokemon, just as rare and elusive as Moltres. His hand found the ball 
on his belt that he was looking for. It was a Master Ball. There were 
only about twenty in the world, and he had been given this one many 
years ago by Giovanni, after being told to catch a Dragonite. He had 
succeeded, but without using the ball, so he had kept it. Now, it 
would serve a new purpose.
       As Mewtrio stood there, the dark marble floor glimmering, he 
sensed that he was in danger. He kept both eyes on the young trainer 
before him.
       David whipped the Master Ball straight at Mewtrio. It was going 
so fast, the owner couldn't even see it.
       Then, a few seconds later, when Mewtrio still stood before him, 
David realized that something had gone wrong. Mewtrio opened his right 
hand, revealing a small pile of fine dust. David had no way of knowing 
for sure, but he felt that it was the Master Ball. Mewtrio had caught 
a pokeball, something no other pokemon could do. What was worse, was 
that this pokeball could catch any pokemon simply by coming in 
physical contact. David now knew that Mewtrio was not a normal being, 
pokemon or living creature.
       "Why did you throw that at me?" Mewtrio asked.
       "What?" David asked.
       "The spherical object, why did you throw it at me? Were you 
trying to catch me? Is that it? To you, pokemon are simply a bull's 
eye that must be hit? Do I look like a target to you? Even if you 
did catch me, do you think that you could handle my power? Are you 
insane?" Mewtrio asked, getting annoyed. This was ridiculous. This 
trainer, whoever he was, had tried to catch him. That was not right.
       "I . . . I . . . I was told by my boss that I should catch you 
. . . if I didn't, my boss would kill me . . ." David stuttered.
       "Who is your boss?" Rynass inquired.
       "Gi . . . Giovanni," he continued.
       Rynass laughed. Once again, Giovanni was willing to risk the 
lives of others to get what he wanted, just because he was too scared 
to do it himself. That man, Giovanni, was a true coward.
       Downstairs, Jim and Pete couldn't believe what was happening. 
They no longer had control of Mewtrio! Whatsmore, another foreign 
thought was entering his brain again.
       Giovanni. The name hit Mewtrio like a bullet. He needed to find 
this man. He needed to find Giovanni, and make him suffer like he had 
suffered. Men like Giovanni did not deserve to live.
       Mewtrio walked up to David, who was shaking. "You disgust me. 
Pokemon disgust me. You are both alike, you know. You allow yourself 
to be commanded, as do pokemon. Only the weak allow themselves to be 
ordered about. You, and all those who manipulate amoeba's like you, 
deserve to die."
       "But . . . you . . ." David let out.
       "I work for this man out of gratitude. He saved my life, so I 
wish to serve him for now. Don't you worry. I'm the only one in charge 
around here," Mewtrio whispered. David was shocked. He couldn't 
believe his ears. If Rynass knew this. . .
       The technicians were all laughing. Indeed, this creature 
thought that he was more than he was. The only one in charge. They 
all knew that they were the real ones in charge. They had to admit 
it though, he was quite a motivational speaker.
       Mewtrio flicked his right wrist down, and three spikes emerged. 
He then shot them into David's head from underneath his neck. Blood 
dribbled down his blades. The monster then pulled his right arm back, 
and then shot it forward, retracting the blades at the same time. 
David went flying for a few hundred feet, before finally hitting the 
ground with a thud. What a way to die. Learning a secret that only one 
other person knows, and then keeping it that way.
       Rynass walked down from his seat and up to his pokemon. "Next 
time, I want all the pokemon killed, and then the trainer to be taken 
hostage. Killing pokemon is what I want, killing people is not 
permitted. If this happens again, there will be consequences. Remember 
Mewtrio, I am in charge. I give you quite a bit of freedom, but I 
don't want you going about breaking the few rules I make."
       Mewtrio stood there as the man walked off. After Giovanni, this 
man was the second worst living creature on the planet.





Chapter 9: A High Exchange Rate

       "Is anyone there?" Ash asked and then released the button.
       "Who is it?" a voice asked over the intercom.
       "Ash Ketchum," he answered.
       "One moment," the voice finished.
       Brock and Ash had traveled nonstop, but now they were here, 
in Celadon City. They hadn't had much trouble getting here, now that 
Golechamp was dead and Gengazam gone. They had just walked up to this 
building, a normal house, which was secretly a hidden base of Team 
Rocket's.
       "Come in. The boss' expecting you," the voice returned. The two 
boys began to enter through the side doors. "Wait. Ash Ketchum is only 
permitted if he is accompanied by pokemon and no other people," the 
voice added.
       Brock looked at the surveillance camera. "And why's that?" he 
yelled.
       "Security Code 314: When entering Celadon Base B, you are 
not to be accompanied by any other persons," the voice answered.
       Brock murmured something, and looked at Ash. "Hey Ash, looks 
like you've got to go save the day on your own, I'll see ya in a 
while," he said, as Ash let the glass door seal him inside this 
building.
       "Follow me," a big man in a suit said as Ash entered the 
building. They walked for a while, the only noise that was given out 
being an occasional "Pika!" from Pikachu.
       Finally, they stopped, and the door in front of the man opened 
"Come in boy," a man said from behind his desk. As Ash and Pikachu 
entered the room, the door behind them slid shut.
       The man's chair turned around to reveal Giovanni. He was 
petting his Persian, smiling. "I'm glad to see that you could make 
it. I hear that you had a run in with some trouble along the way?" 
he said.
       "You must mean Golechamp. No, he was actually really easy to 
beat. No trouble," Ash said. He didn't know why, but it seemed that 
Ash needed to impress this man.
       "Well, I wouldn't expect that such a timid creature would be 
a challenge for you, Ketchum, especially with that Pikachu at your 
side," Giovanni added. His Persian purred, while Pikachu remained 
silent. "Which brings me to the real reason why I invited you here. As 
you know, we have something that you may want back, and, at least for 
now, she is in good health. Whether her condition is to remain that 
way however, is entirely up to you."
       Giovanni pressed a button on the control pad in front of him 
and a screen came down on one of the walls. A picture materialized, 
and Ash could clearly see that Misty was not in "perfect" health. 
Inside her damp, moldy cell were two guards. One had his arm around 
her with his head buried in her hair, the other squeezing her mouth 
and talking to her. Ash was disgusted, and could not hold back as he 
heard her pleas. "Stop that!" he cried out.
       "What do you two think you are doing!" Giovanni yelled into 
the intercom. "Stop meddling with the prisoner! Return to your 
positions!" he barked out.
       Out of pure terror, both men scurried out of the prison cell, 
and raised their rifles up to the tired, dirty and pathetic Misty.
       "Whether your friend receives any more of this treatment is 
all up to you. You
see, you have something I want, and I have tried many, many times to 
get it from you, but to no avail, so I have decided to lay down a 
business proposition. If you lend me your Pikachu, I shall return 
this young woman to you." Giovanni declared.
       "If I don't?" Ash asked.
       "Those rifles are filled with a highly lethal toxin, which will 
kill your friend in a matter of minutes. She shall die in pain, in a 
filthy prison cell, with two disgusting old men the only people who 
she will see when she dies," Giovanni answered.
       Ash had no choice. He had to save Misty. But at the price of 
losing another friend? Ash knew what he had to do, but in his heart 
wasn't sure if he wanted to do it. "What do you mean by, 'borrow'?" 
he asked.
       "I do not intend on keeping your Pikachu forever and am willing 
to return it to you when I am finished with it. I only need it for a 
few weeks, and then you can come to get it. At first, it may seem a 
slight bit ill, but I assure you, your Pikachu shall be in the best 
hands Team Rocket can offer.
       Ash hesitated. He didn't like this. The best hands Team Rocket 
had to offer where not all that clean - he knew that from experience.
       "I wish to remind you that, even if you do not follow through 
with our plans, and allow your friend down there to die, this won't be 
over. You have surely heard of one David Keaton? Well, he is my work. 
Everything that that boy has is thanks to me, his pokemon, his fame, 
his success, and his fortune; all my doing. Now if I was able to 
create such a pokemon master, do you not think that I could just 
as easily destroy one?"
       Ash was silent. "Fine," he said.
       "Bring the girl up!" Giovanni commanded into the intercom.
       Ash picked up Pikachu, for what he hoped would not be the last 
time. His eyes were filled with tears. "Pikachu buddy, I'm doing this 
for Misty, so I hope you understand . . ." he began. Pikachu was 
crying in coalition with Ash, "after all . . . this is just for a 
while, I mean, in a few weeks, I'll be back here to get you, okay 
buddy?" Ash's voice trailed on.
       Giovanni pulled out a needle from his breast pocket and 
injected it into Pikachu. The sleeping drugs worked so quickly that 
it couldn't even complain. Then, Giovanni plucked the sleeping mouse 
from Ash, and laid it on his desk. He pulled out a pokeball, and 
called Pikatchu inside. Ash wiped away the last of his tears.
       The door slid open, and the two guards who had been bothering 
Misty now brought her into the room. She ran up to Ash, and they 
hugged each other for a long time. Ash couldn't believe it. She looked 
terrible. She was pale, looked as if she hadn't been fed in a few days 
and had dark circles under her eyes. She also smelt like urine.
       "Oh Ash, I've missed you so much, the things they've done to 
me!" Misty cried into Ash's shoulder.
       Then she stopped. "Ash, where's Pikachu? Ash?" she asked. Ash 
was silent.
       "Gentleman, please escort these two out of here now, I no 
longer wish to have them in my presence," Giovanni said. "Mr. Ketchum, 
return here in three weeks to receive your Pikatchu, and Ms. 
Waterflower, clean yourself up," he stated as the two guards began to 
hustle them out.
       Suddenly, Togepi jumped out of Misty's bag, and jumped into its 
trainer's arms. "Togepi, oh, how I missed you too!" Misty laughed as 
Togepi laughed out in joy.
       "Wait!" Giovanni cried out. He walked up to Misty and grasped 
the egg-pokemon in his hand. Misty was too tired to fight back.
       As Ash ran forward to collect Togepi, the two guards held him 
back. Togepi was crying as Giovanni inspected it. "I believe that I'll 
keep this creature for now as well. You can get this one back when you 
come for your Pikatchu in three weeks. I never noticed how useful this 
thing may be . . ."
       Suddenly, Togepi stopped crying. Without knowing what was 
happening, Giovanni fell to the ground, and Togepi fell out of his 
hand, the little pokemon with a frown on its face. Misty ran to pick 
it up while the two men quickly attempted to rescue their boss from 
the bizarre force that was paralyzing him. As they touched him though, 
they fell to the ground as well. Ash, seizing the moment, ran up to 
Boss Rocket's desk and grabbed the pokeball, which held Pikatchu 
captive. The pair then left the room, and ran right out of the door. 
As they ran out of the building, they bumped right into Brock who had 
his back turned to them.
       They added their gaze to Brock's, where they were greeted with 
none other than the trio who had kidnapped Misty in the first place. 
An infamous speech then followed.
       "To protect the world from devastation!
       To unit all peoples within our nation!
       To denounce the evils of truth and love!
       To extend our reach to the stars above!
       Jessie,
       James,
       Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!
       Surrender now or prepare to . . ."
       James was interrupted with a kick in the groin by Misty. She 
then pushed him into Jessie, and when Meowth jumped in front of the 
angered girl, she kicked him off into the distance.
       "Nice shot Misty . . ." was all that Brock, or anyone could say.


       Giovanni picked up the phone. "Hello, who is this?"
       "Is this Boss Rocket?" the man asked.
       "Who is this!" Giovanni spat into the phone.
       "My name is death. I have already met your associate, Mr. 
Keaton, and I wish to meet you. I challenge you, Mr. Giovanni. Come 
here to Indigo Plateau, and then I will see if you are as all powerful 
as you say you are. And bring lots of pokemon," Rynass said, and then 
hung up.
       Giovanni crushed the cordless phone in his strong hand. He was 
furious! No, he was beyond furious, he was completely overwhelmed with 
hate. That inconceivable long-haired pansy! Giovanni couldn't believe 
it. First, he and his base had been raided by a child and his friends. 
His one ticket to beating Mewtrio had been stolen from him, and now, 
he was being challenged, but without a Pikachu! The lead in Giovanni's 
veins began to vaporize. How close he had been to having the ultimate 
pokemon, but then, because of his own greed, it had slipped through 
his fingers! All because of that stupid Togepi!
       Giovanni called on his intercom, and ordered for a helicopter. 
He would have to go to Cinnabar Island if he was going to fight this 
Rynass and his Mewtrio. And to do that, he would need his best.






Chapter 10: Magmoise Meltdown

       The group was now standing in front of the Safari Zone's gate. 
It had taken quite a while for them to get here, but now, here they 
were. They had just been at the pokemon center, where they had 
rejuvenated Pikachu and where Misty had washed up and rested. They 
had wanted to go to the Pokemon Center in Celadon, but they had been 
scared that Giovanni may have gone after them if they had remained in 
the same city as him. After all, they had not only foiled Team 
Rocket's plans, but Giovanni's personal plans.
       A short man walked up to the group. It was the Warden. "Gee 
guys, I sure am glad you could make it, but I'm not sure if you can 
help," he said to the trio. He turned around and pointed to the park, 
which was on fire. "You see, there's some kind of monster in there, 
but I really don't know what to do about him. You see, he's a fire and 
water pokemon, and I just don't have anything that'll cut it against 
that kind of beast. Even Dragonair couldn't handle him. I just don't 
know what to do . . ." the Warden trailed off. They could all see the 
despair in his eyes. This park was his life, and now, it was being 
destroyed by this unseen demon.
       "Don't worry, we'll take care of it!" Ash told him.
       Brock was thinking. "Warden, you say that this thing has fire 
and water traits? Well, I think that if we all work together, we'll 
be able to handle it. Don't worry, we'll save your park!"
       "Yeah, cheer up, this'll be no problem compared to the other 
things that we've seen so far!" Misty chirped in. She hoped that she 
was right.
       As they walked into the park, they all remembered the battle 
against Scythizard. It had also burnt everything in its path, and took 
no mercy. If this creature was anything like that then they may truly 
need to all work together . . .
       Then, as they neared the river, a giant head shot out of the 
water. Water flowed down the sides of the monster's head, and they all 
recognized it. It was a Blastoise head, with sharp, jagged ears, and 
fire burning in its eyes. Then it slowly walked out of the water. 
Everyone gasped.
       The monster moved slowly, but was very bulky. It had the head 
and shell of a Blastoise, as well as the cannons, except there was one 
difference. One of the cannons was glowing red, as if it were on fire. 
Down the back of the creature's shell was a series of spikes that 
continued along the beast's tail. The tail ended in a large flame. The 
monster's hands and legs resembled those of a Blastoise, but seemed 
much more sharp and jagged. All across the beast's body were red lines 
somewhat resembling veins.
       "Magmoise," Brock uttered.
       Ash, Pikachu and Misty looked at him. "What?" Ash asked.
       "Magmoise," Brock repeated, "it's a cross between a Magmar and 
Blastoise. What a horrible creation."
       The creature shifted its gaze to the group. Both of its cannons 
aimed straight at them. Just as its would-be-victims jumped out of its 
way, two streams shot out of Magmoise's cannons, hitting the ground 
right were they had been standing. One stream was a jet of water, the 
other, a shot of fire. That was why the cannon was red! Ash realized.
       "Wow! That was too close!" Brock yelled out.
       "Pikachu, aim a Thunderbolt at that right cannon, okay?" Ash 
asked.
       Pikachu nodded and ran into the battlefield. The beast shot out 
two more streams, except this time instead of running, Pikachu jumped 
into the air. A ball of electricity formed around him, a bolt of 
energy shot from his body and came in contact with the stream of 
water. Electricity surged up the water, and blew up Magmoise's right 
cannon.
       Magmoise yelled out. Shards of its cannon still remained 
embedded in its thick shell. Suddenly, Magmoise didn't feel so good. 
Its temperature was rising. Magmoise turned its head to Pikachu and 
then jumped back into the river.
       "What the . . ." Misty began.
       They ran out onto the field. Pikachu stood there confused. Had 
it done something wrong? Ash ran up to him, and Pikachu jumped into 
his arms. "Good job, Pikachu!" he told him.
       Pikachu let out a "Pika!"
       Brock frowned. "Ash, it's not over. That thing just went into 
hiding. Without the water in its body to cool down the fire, its 
temperature is rising. To slow this down, he jumped into the water. 
I assure you though, when he feels better, he'll be back and angrier 
than ever!"
       Ash starred at Brock. That couldn't be true . . . could it? 
Misty gasped. "What about all of the pokemon in the river? With 
Magmoise's heat, every living thing in the river will die!" she 
screamed.
       Pikachu sent a Thunderbolt into the river. The beast still 

remained hidden. "Graveler, go!" Brock yelled out. The rock pokemon 
stood before him. "Graveler, send an avalanche into that river over 
there!" Brock commanded. The creature began throwing a wave of rocks 
into the river, but still the beast would not come out. It was Misty's 
turn.
       "Tentacruel, I choose you!" she cried, releasing her Tentacruel. 
"Tentacruel, use your blizzard to freeze that monster's shell!"
       A beam of ice hit Magmoise. Enough was enough. He had suffered 
enough. Now it was the humans' turns.
       Suddenly, Magmoise jumped out of the river. "Magmoise!" it 
yelled, as a shot of fire hit the Tentacruel. It just snickered. Fire 
would have no effect. Magmoise saw this, and sent two more blasts out, 
one to Graveler, one towards Pikatchu. Pikatchu swiftly dodged it, 
while Graveler stood, unsinged. Magmoise didn't like this at all. In 
anger, he shot another blast of fire at Brock. Graveler quickly jumped 
in the way, intercepting the flames. This was no good. He couldn't win 
against such a powerful combination. Despaired, Magmoise turned 
around, and headed back towards the river, but stopped when he was hit 
with a stream of water. He turned, to see the Tentacruel sending its 
Hydro Pump against his hot body. The water felt good. As Tentacruel 
continued, Magmoise's temperature continued its descent. This was 
great. Then, a giant stone hit him smack in the head. Magmoise brought 
both hands to its face, but clearly saw who had thrown the stone. 
Graveler then jumped into the air, and came crashing down on the 
weakened beast. Magmoise fell to the ground, not being able to get 
up. Then, he pulled all of his arms and legs into his shell. He then 
pulled in his head, tail, and remaining cannon. Now he was safe. No 
one could hurt him now, and if that Tentacruel continued, he would be 
fine.
       Tentacruel stopped its assault on the shell. What was the 
point? A Blastoise shell was close to impenetrable, everyone knew 
that. Graveler was called back.
       "What do we do now?" Ash asked.
       "I don't know, but I'm guessing that if we don't do something 
soon, this entire park will explode in less than ten minutes!" Brock 
shouted.
       "What do you mean?" Misty asked.
       "Magmoise's temperature is soaring. Eventually, if he stays out 
in the open, his shell will deteriorate, and the air around him will 
begin to burn. Eventually, we'll have a Magmoise meltdown, and the 
whole park will blow up!" Brock explained.
       "So why don't we just push him in the river?" Ash asked.
       "At this point, it won't help. Magmoise's temperature would 
probably boil the water, that is, if we could even move him," Brock 
answered.
       "Tentacruel, use your blizzard!" Misty ordered.
       More ice hit the beast's shell, but in a matter of seconds 
the case of ice was reduced to steam. Inside Magmoise's shell, the 
creature was no longer alive. The heat had totally melted its brain, 
as well as its other organs. Now, Magmoise was in no danger . . . but 
the entire Safari Zone was.
       In despair, Misty called out her Gyarados, Dewgong, Staryu and 
Poliwhirl. Ash called out his Blastoise. Thousands of gallons of water 
and ice were shot at the steaming shell. They all had no effect. 
Suddenly, one of the spikes on Magmoise's shell melted into a puddle 
of black liquid. This was bad.
       Everyone called back their pokemon, and looked at Brock. He 
shook his head. They could not stop this from happening.
       As the group turned around and ran, Dragonair poked its head 
out of the water. It shut its eyes as the steam blinded them. It then 
reopened its eyes, and stared at the monster that had tortured it for 
so long. It knew what it had to do.
       Dragonair cocked back its head, and then sent the strongest 
Hyper Beam it had ever made shooting towards the melting shell. Like 
a pane of glass falling from twenty feet above, the beast's shell 
flew into a thousand pieces, and the air suddenly began to cool down 
tremendously. Dragonair dove back underwater, where it would live 
peacefully on.
       Outside of the park, everyone waited patiently. The Warden 
hadn't wanted to believe it when Brock had told him what would happen, 
but right now, he was praying that the inevitable explosion would not 
happen.
       They waited five, ten, twenty minutes, but nothing happened. 
When they were tired of waiting, Ash walked up to the gate, and when 
he saw a piece of the monster's shell, he called everyone over.
       "I . . . I don't believe it!" Brock said. "Somehow, the shell 
blew up!"
       No one said anything else, but the Warden was smiling. He knew 
who had done this.







Chapter 11: The Invincible Artinite

       They had just missed the ferry. Now they would have to wait 
for the next one. This would never do. Ash, Brock and Misty had been 
invited to a very important meeting back at Pallet Town. Professor 
Oak would be there, as would be the Elite Four. They had to make 
this meeting! Professor Oak had said that there was something very 
important that he had to tell them. And now they had missed the last 
ferry.
       "We could always ride on Lapras," Misty stated.
       Of course! Lapras! Through all this madness, Ash had completely 
forgotten about his transportation pokemon.
       "Lapras, I choose you!" he cried as the creature appeared in 
the ocean before them. Brock, Ash, Misty and Pikachu all got onto the 
creature's back. Maybe they would be back in time for the meeting 
after all . . .
       As Lapras swam on, Brock noticed an Ocean Liner about a 
kilometer away. There was just one problem. The ship, a very large 
cruiser, was rocking back and forth on the waves. Suddenly, a 
lightning bolt tore through the sky. Dark clouds formed over their 
heads. A storm was coming.
       Then, to everyone's surprise, a giant hand reached out of the 
water. It had five long fingers, ending with sharp nails. The hand dug 
into the side of the ship. Everyone gasped as the ship was lifted into 
the air. Then, two snake like objects appeared out of the water. An 
immense head followed them. Two glaring eyes shot out of the water 
which were followed by a sharp beak. Then, as this colossal monster 
continued to rise out of the sea, Brock yelled out. No, this couldn't 
happen! The creature, at least one hundred feet tall, still sat half 
submerged in the water. Its long, thick arms grasped the ship like a 
toy, as if it were a child in a bathtub. Two long, shining blue-
feathered wings lay dormant on the beast's back. This was terrible.
       "What the hell . . ." Ash began.
       "This is not happening!" Brock cried out. But it was. This 
giant creature broke the ship in two, and began to spill its contents 
into its short, sharp beak. Screaming people fell into the open hole 
of a mouth. Ash, Brock, Misty, Pikachu and Lapras just stared in 
horror.
       "This . . . this is really bad. Ash, do you know what that 
is?" Brock yelled out, trying to speak over the screams.
       "No, what?" Ash answered.
       Misty spoke up. "That's the body of a Dragonite, but the wings 
and beak, I . . ."
       "It's an Articuno! This thing, this Artinite, is invincible! 
Dragons are only weak against ice, and this thing is ice! This 
creature is stronger than that Gengazam! It has no weaknesses, and 
has a resistance to any attack that is thrown at it! Not to mention 
its size!" Brock yelled.
       They looked at the beast as it continued to eat. It was indeed 
huge. "Pikachu, hit it with a Thunderbolt!" Ash commanded. As the 
beast stood in the middle of the storm, one bolt of lightning hit him, 
but he didn't even flinch. Artinite didn't care. Not even nature could 
harm him.
       "That's no good! Lapras, try an Ice Beam!" Ash added.
       As a beam flew towards the monster, it raised its tail out of 
the water. It was long and slender, or at least in comparison to the 
rest of the monster. As the beam hit the tail, the monster finally 
reacted. The beast, while still holding half of the boat, briefly 
glanced over his shoulder to meet its next prey. It then returned 
its full attention to the people trying to escape in the water.
       "Ash, I told you, this thing is too big and too strong to care 
about our attacks! I can't think of anything that would be able to 
stop it!" Brock said as the thunder shattered their eardrums.
       Ash threw a pokeball into the air, and a flying red monster 
appeared. "Charizard, hit that thing with a fire blast!" he told the 
creature.
       Brock didn't say anything. Maybe . . . just maybe . . .
       The monster was looking downwards when the star of fire hit 
the left side of his head. Artinite reacted as if he had been slapped, 
turning his head to the right. As he turned his head to greet the 
creature that had hit him, another star hit him head-on in his face. 
Artinite brought up both of his hands to cover his burning face, and 
then fell into the ocean depths with a splash.
       Huge waves covered the remaining survivors, dragging them down 
to a watery grave.
       Lapras was having trouble not falling onto its side, but was 
able to remain stable. This was incredible. Charizard had hit Artinite 
with two Fire Blasts, and now it had run away.
       Ash smiled up to Charizard who still flew in the sky. He had 
done a great job.
       Suddenly, just as the waves began to settle, gallons of water 
flew into the air. A giant creature, at least two hundred feet tall, 
flew out of the water. Artinite's sparkling blue wings still shined 
even under the dark clouds. Water fell from off of the monster's body 
as it hovered in the sky, flapping its wings.
       Huge gusts of air hit Ash, but he continued to stand. It was 
now for the first time that he was able to observe this creature 
completely. Its head was that of a Dragonite's, except it had the 
sharp beak and eyes of an Articuno. The beast's body also resembled a 
Dragonite's, as did its tail. The arms were longer than Dragonite's, 
but had sharp nails at the end of each of its five fingers. The legs 
of this hybrid were those of Articuno, being long bird-legs. Then, 
there were the majestic wings, which had replaced Dragonite's small 
puny wings.
       Everyone stared at the monstrosity in the sky. It was huge. 
Then, just as the creature's effect was beginning to wear off, it 
shot a stream of ice down to the ocean.
       A sheet of ice began to cover the ocean surface, but Lapras 
jumped onto the ice just before it covered them. Then, once they were 
on the ice, Ash called his Lapras back.
       Artinite had moved its gaze from Ash and company to Charizard. 
This stupid thing had hurt him, and now it would pay. As Charizard 
tried to fly away, it was hit with Artinite's huge palm, sent flying 
down onto the ice. When Charizard hit the floor of ice, it began to 
crack. Ash, seeing this, called him back. Now what would he do? 
Artinite was mad now . . .
       As the three were debating over what to do, a ball of energy 
began to form in-between Artinite's beak. Then the beam shot towards 
the gang.
       The trio began to run, but saw that they had no chance. 
Artinite's Hyper Beam was tearing through the ice faster than they 
could run. Shattered ice flew everywhere, and just as the Hyper Beam 
was about to hit them, everyone jumped to their right. They landed on 
the ice, pieces of broken ice surrounding them like spears.
       Everyone got up and looked at this monster. It was flying quite 
high up, and Ash knew that only a flying type pokemon would ever stand 
a chance. He called out Charizard again, who was still pretty 
exhausted.
       Charizard flew into the sky, but still hadn't been seen by the 
giant flying hybrid. It would have to hit the creature hard this time, 
but it would be difficult - Artinite was continually moving to the 
left and right.
       As Artinite prepared another Hyper Beam in its mouth, Charizard 
flew down from the sky. His Fissure hit Artinite right on the top of 
its head. The monster's brain shook inside its dense skull, which was 
beginning to crack. Charizard had finally succeeded in landing a 
Fissure strike.
       Misty jumped in the air with delight. Artinite was no longer 
flying back and forth, but remained in one spot, not seeming to do 
anything. It was too surprised to fight back. That Charizard had hit 
its head dead center, and its whole head felt wrong.
       As Artinite remained motionless in the sky, the only movement 
was its wings, Charizard sent another Fire Blast to the creature's 
head. This one hit the monster's right side. Charizard then flew 
around to the other side of the monster and sent another blast to the 
creature's left cheek. The almighty Artinite raised both of its hands 
to the sides of its head. How it hurt! The pain in Artinite's head was 
not going away, and everything was blurry. Then a familiar red blotch 
formed right before its eyes. As the blotch came closer and closer, 
Artinite recognized the star pattern. Finally, when Charizard's final 
Fire Blast hit Artinite, it fell out of the sky. As the beast crashed 
through the ice, an ear splitting noise was heard.
       "Pikachu, Thunder!" Ash yelled.
       A colossal bolt of lightning formed, and tore straight through 
the ocean depths until it hit its target who lay on the ocean floor.
       Electricity surged through Artinite's dying body and it wanted 
so badly for this to be over with. The giant monster lay on the ocean 
floor, schools of fish swimming past it. The boat that he had just 
recently destroyed still remained suspended a few hundred feet above 
him. Artinite closed his eyes. It was almost over.
       Charizard landed on the ice in front of the group. They were 
all smiling. Against Brock's calculations, they had defeated the 
strongest hybrid ever - a cross between two legends; an ice dragon.
       The group began to walk along the ice. In the distance, they 
sighted Cinnabar Island. There, they would catch the ferry home to 
Pallet, hopefully in time for the meeting. As they walked along, 
everyone, including Charizard, was pleased.
       Suddenly, a giant hand tore through the ice. It swept back and 
forth, in search for a victim to drag down with it. Then, a familiar 
head poked through the ice, as Artinite, one eye shut, shot its beak 
forward at the unsuspecting group.
       Pikachu and Charizard both shot forward an attack and both 
attacks hit the unfortunate Artinite. The monster slowly sank back 
down under the surface, gone - for good.
       Ash called back his Charizard, and looked at Brock. No one 
said a word.




Chapter 12: Revenge

       Giovanni's helicopter touched down right at the doorway to 
the castle. His Persian began to follow him out of the helicopter, 
but Giovanni shook his head. This was not the place for a Persian.
       Giovanni opened the doors. They were of a high quality wood, 
these doors. Giovanni walked onto the marble floor. He admired the 
taste of this Rynass character, even if he couldn't be called a human.
       "Glad you could make it!" a man yelled out. A man of average 
height sat in what resembled a thrown about one hundred feet from 
where Giovanni stood. Indeed, this man was ugly, be it not for his 
scarred face, then the fact that he had a ponytail.
       "Well, let's get this over with!" Giovanni told him.
       Rynass laughed. "I'm surprised! I was told you liked to take 
your time! Are you sure that you want to lose so quickly? No last 
requests?"
       "Actually, there is one thing that I would like to know. Why 
have you created all of these hybrids?" Giovanni asked.
       "I want to show the world that normal pokemon just aren't 
strong enough. They are weak and easily defeated, as my Mewtrio will 
show you. Hybrids are very strong and can destroy everything!" Rynass 
laughed.
       "But why would you want to destroy the world?" Giovanni 
inquired.
       "Look at my face," Rynass began, "the world did this to me! 
I was once a pokemon master, but one day I lost and was called a fool 
wherever I went. One day, I tried to enter the pokemon league again, 
but they wouldn't allow me to, saying that the league was for serious 
trainers! I began to complain, when the man at the front desk 
challenged me. I fought to prove my abilities, but someone sprayed 
a concoction in my face. Well now, I'm not a pokemon master, such 
a title is not worthy of my stature. Pokemon masters are weak! No, 
I am no pokemon master, I am a true master!"
       Giovanni was silent. This man was not only insane, but pathetic 
as well. "I've heard enough of this nonsense. I wish to fight 
Mewtrio," he declared.
       "Your weak normal pokemon will not stand a chance!" Rynass 
cackled.
       "I never said that I was going to use normal pokemon!" Giovanni 
snickered.
       "What do you mean?" Rynass asked curiously.
       "You genetically engineer your pokemon to make hybrids, well, 
I make my pokemon stronger and faster. You might even say that they 
are almost like machines. What's the matter, you weren't expecting 
me to play the same game as you?" Giovanni laughed.
       Rynass did not like this at all. Mewtrio had been enhanced, 
yes, but to what extent. This was not going to go as smoothly as he 
had hoped.
       Mewtrio walked out of the darkness. "Giovanni," it said without 
emotion.
       "Mewtrio, I want you to kill every pokemon this man has. Every 
last one." Rynass ordered.
       "It doesn't matter, I'll just make more of them!" Giovanni 
said.
       "Playing with clones again Giovanni? I thought you had learnt 
your lesson," Mewtrio asked.
       "Ha! So, they allowed you to keep your memory! Well, that's 
surprising, I would have thought that this 'trainer' behind you would 
never allow you to remember. Well, I suppose that's bad news for me!" 
Giovanni told the creature.
       Rynass was displeased. How had Mewtrio remembered this man? All 
of his memory had been removed. This was not supposed to be happening. 
"So, Giovanni, tell me how you caught that Moltres?" he asked.
       Giovanni's need for revenge was rekindled. "Oh, why would it 
matter to you? You don't even catch pokemon!"
       Mewtrio sensed something - something strong - in one of 
Giovanni's pokeballs. It was a pokemon that had never been fought 
before. "Sir?" Mewtrio called as he turned to Rynass.
       "Yes, what is it?" he answered.
       "I don't think that you should be in this room when we fight," 
Mewtrio told him.
       "Why?" Rynass asked.
       "Giovanni has a very powerful, unpredictable pokemon with him 
and I fear your safety," Mewtrio responded.
       "But I'll be safe, up on my thrown!" Rynass told him.
       "Not from this attack," Mewtrio began, "listen, I know that you 
want to see this fight, but if you stay here, you will be seriously 
injured. Just go downstairs and watch the battle through the monitor. 
I'm sure that your men will love to have you join them."
       Rynass cringed. What was going on? He didn't like this at 
all. He walked down from his platform and up to the elevator door. 
"Goodbye, Giovanni!" he cried as the elevator doors shut.
       Downstairs, the technicians were furiously reading over the 
data being printed. Rynass marched into the room. "What the hell is 
going on!" he screamed.
       "We . . . we're trying to find out!" Pete said, while scanning 
through the codes written before his eyes. What was going to happen 
that was so dangerous?
       "Well, I seem to remember you not liking to be commanded!" 
Giovanni stated.
       Aware that everyone downstairs was observing his every action, 
Mewtrio said nothing.
       "Not in a talking mood? Oh well, I'm afraid it's time for you 
to feel the pain of losing again to me!" Giovanni cried as he threw 
out two pokeballs. A Gyarados and a Rhydon stood before Mewtrio. 
Mewtrio did not sense any thoughts in these creature's heads. They 
were very different from normal pokemon . . .
       Suddenly, almost as fast as Mewtrio could register, Rhydon 
charged forward at Mewtrio. Mewtrio moved away just in time to avoid 
the attack, but was then smacked hard by Gyarados, and was sent flying 
into a nearby wall. Mewtrio jumped into the air, and tried to 
understand what had happened. These pokemon were so fast! And they 
were so strong! This would be much harder than he had expected.
       Both creatures came running from opposite directions at 
Mewtrio, and he slapped his hands together. Mewtrio then separated 
them, and two beams shot from either of his hands, hitting both 
pokemon. Two tiles brought down their carcasses. There was something 
else that Mewtrio did not like about these pokemon, and that was that 
they did not have power levels. It was so abnormal . . .
       Rynass was stunned. Mewtrio - his ultimate pokemon - had been 
hit. This was not supposed to be happening! Mewtrio was too fast to 
be hit! How could this be happening?
       A Hypno and a Starmie were now in front of Mewtrio. The Hypno 
began to swing his watch back and forth. Mewtrio could not stay awake. 
Just as Mewtrio's brain began to fall asleep, a surge of electricity 
shocked his brain, returning him to consciousness.
       Mewtrio quickly formed a sphere of energy to surround him, in 
defense against similar attacks. Then Starmie, spinning wildly, flew 
into the shield. Much to Mewtrio's surprise, Starmie was actually 
cutting through his shield! Mewtrio quickly flew upwards, and was then 
hit in the back by a jet of water. The Starmie was right behind him! 
Mewtrio sent a beam of energy to Starmie, which had hit it dead on, 
but the Starmie quickly recovered. This did not look good.
       Mewtrio flew up to the Starmie, and grabbed its spikes, but 
then quickly let go as they began to spin furiously. Starmie had 
turned into a rotary saw! The spinning disk flew after Mewtrio. Then 
he had an idea. The Hypno, still sitting on the ground confused, was 
surprised when Mewtrio landed behind him. What surprised him even more 
was when he was hit with a blast of water. Hypno, furious, then put 
the maniacal Starmie to sleep. Mewtrio then quickly destroyed it. 
Hypno, still unaware of what was going on around him, was then hit 
with a stream of energy, not being able to stop it.
       "Excellent work!" Giovanni cried out as he clapped. "Now that 
the warm-up's over, let's fight!" He sent out two more pokemon. A 
Dragonite and Chansey were now present on the marble floor.
       Before Mewtrio could react, he was busy dodging hundreds of 
Hyper Beams being shot by the Dragonite. Mewtrio had to escape this 
maddening storm of power. As Mewtrio flew up into the sky, he noticed 
a tear in his rubber coating. He quickly used his recover powers to 
cover it. Mewtrio then looked down at the Dragonite, who still had 
to catch up.
       Dragonite, who was not tired in the least, was then hit with a 
massive bolt of energy, shot by Mewtrio. He fell to the ground with a 
thud, landing on Chansey.
       The strong pokemon lifted the Dragonite and put it down beside 
itself. Chansey just smiled.
       Mewtrio ran up to the pokemon, and began to send a huge assault 
of punches to the Chansey. When he finally stopped, Chansey still 
stood there smiling. "Chansey!" it cried out.
       Mewtrio was amazed. He should have known better! Chansey's 
strength and health were incredible - the strongest of all pokemon. 
It looked like he would have to use a stronger attack . . .
       Mewtrio jumped into the air, and curled himself up into a ball. 
A ball of energy formed around him. Even the air around him was deadly.
       Meanwhile, on the ground, Giovanni ordered Chansey to use its 
Metronome attack. As Mewtrio released his energy, so did Chansey, but 
the egg pokemon's attack was simply to weak. Waves of energy flew 
through the entire room, destroying everything they hit. Giovanni hid 
behind a pillar, as Chansey disintegrated into a pile of dust.
       Mewtrio landed on the ground, and wiped a bead of sweat off of 
his head.
       Downstairs, everyone was silent. Their eyes still burned with 
the amount of energy Mewtrio had released. That was the attack that 
he had been talking about.
       "Wait a minute," Rynass said, "was that sweat that Mewtrio just 
wiped away?"
       Jim looked up, "Yeah, why?"
       Pete gasped. Rynass answered, "Because he is not supposed to 
sweat!"
       "How . . ." Pete began.
       Jim spoke up, "It... it must be part of his recover technique! 
When he recovers, cells that have been removed may begin to reform!"
       "That would explain the few memories he has!" Pete gasped.
       Rynass couldn't believe what he was hearing. This couldn't 
happen! If Mewtrio got all of is memory back, then he would realize 
that he was being used again, and would attack him! That couldn't 
happen!
       "Don't worry though boss! So far, he can't feel emotions!" Jim 
added.
       "So, right now, Mewtrio shouldn't be mad?" Rynass asked.
       Mewtrio was indeed mad. Giovanni had just sent out his next 
pokemon, and had then commented how he, Mewtrio, being part machine, 
couldn't even be called into a pokeball. That didn't make him a 
pokemon. The urge to answer was so strong, but if Mewtrio wanted to 
keep this game up with Rynass, then he would have to say nothing.
       Porygon interrupted Mewtrio's thoughts. The surrounding area 
around the digital pokemon had transformed into a virtual reality 
game. Mewtrio was trapped in a video game.
       Porygon began to transform. Four, thick, muscular arms grew 
from his sides. A giant head, like that of a dragon, formed from a 
new neck. Two long, tree-stump legs supported the monster. It stood 
at least twenty feet tall. Mewtrio tried to shoot energy at it, but 
it was no use, not as long as he remained in this digital world.
       The creature grasped Mewtrio in his hands, and began to crush 
him. Mewtrio tried to fight back, but it was no use, he had lost 
control in this world. Somehow, he had to escape . . .
       The monster laughed as Mewtrio ceased to struggle. The new 
monster Porygon threw Mewtrio to the ground, where he lay limp and 
lifelessly. Rynass, from downstairs, wasn't sure if this was another 
Gengar prank or not.
       Porygon returned to his crystalline form and rolled over to 
Mewtrio. Suddenly, Mewtrio raised his arm in attempts of strangling 
the monster, but again he had no control and could not.
       Giovanni laughed. Mewtrio was helpless against his Porygon's 
attacks.
       Mewtrio got up again, and jumped back fifty feet, surprised 
that he could even do that. But now he was outside of Porygon's world, 
back where his attacks were real.
       Porygon, transforming again, was then hit with a blast of 
energy and shattered into dozens of crystal pieces. The digital world 
disappeared.
       "Very intelligent, I must say!" Giovanni laughed.
       Mewtrio did not like this. Giovanni had already used seven 
pokemon, and if he didn't care about losing a pokemon like Porygon, 
who would be next?
       What appeared next on the ground almost caused Rynass to have a 
heart attack. Jim quickly tried to reassure him though, that Mewtrio's 
genetic code could not be copied. But it could.
       The little purple Ditto began to change into a Mewtrio to 
everyone's surprise. Everyone except Giovanni, who stood smiling 
confidently. "You see," he explained to Mewtrio, "even though your 
code is not complete, neither is this Ditto's, so he can copy your 
code and act just like you!"
       Mewtrio now stood facing himself. This would be an apocalyptic 
battle, being worse than that between Mew and Mewtwo. What would 
happen?
       Both creatures shot a massive amount of energy to one another. 
Almost immediately, both were flying around the room, sending shots at 
one another. Eventually they were moving so fast that they could not 
be seen.
       Downstairs, Rynass was very close to strangling both of his 
technicians.
Both creatures stopped, gazing at each other. This was not working. 
Their psychic attacks had no effect on one another. They would have 
to attempt physical techniques.
       Once again, both monsters flew into battle, the fake Mewtrio 
sending sea's of punches, the real one blocking them. Kicking was then 
introduced.
       Both creatures were fighting valiantly and with much effort. 
Giovanni was pleased, but knew that if this didn't work, things would 
get messy. His hand tightened around the gun he held in his pocket.
       Mewtrio couldn't do this for much longer. This was pointless. 
He had to do something that a Ditto would not think of . . . something 
new.
       Just as Ditto was about to overpower Mewtrio, who was not 
paying full attention, he was hit in the chest by a massive lump. 
Ditto stared at Mewtrio who was once again facing him. Mewtrio had 
just used his tail! Ditto hadn't even acknowledged the presence of a 
tail! Then, Mewtrio's powercharged fist smashed into Ditto's face. The 
fake Mewtrio went flying back, but was then grabbed by Mewtrio. The 
wily creature held Ditto in a lock, and was pushing the spikes that 
covered his body into Ditto's soft side. Ditto had no choice but to 
transform. The blob fell to the ground, and began to transform into a 
Charizard, but Mewtrio reached it before he had the chance. With his 
three blades deep inside Ditto, Mewtrio absorbed all of the 
transforming pokemon's health. He then dropped the lifeless beast to 
the ground.
       Everyone was silent downstairs, when Pete let out, "Look's like 
it's time for another speech!"
       Rynass turned his head. "What are you talking about?" he asked.
       Jim quickly answered "Oh, nothing - an inside joke!" he did not 
think that Rynass would find the same type of humor in what Mewtrio 
said as they had.
       Giovanni did not want to do what had to be done. But, it was 
his duty to finish up this whole mess.
       "Done?" Mewtrio asked.
       "You could say that. I'm finished battling. The revenge that 
brought me here is almost satisfied, so this battle, this fight 
between revenge and revenge is almost over," Giov