Sabrina had us at Fuchsia City within minutes.
We arrived at Koga's Gym to find the place eerily quiet.Not the quiet that one would expect of a residence where everyone was asleep as they should at this hour, but rather the house was silent as though the very earth itself was holding its breath in anticipation.No pokemon stirred, no wind blew through the branches of elegantly spaced trees and no noise came from the house. It had my skin crawling and the hairs on my neck standing up.I eyed the trees and flicked my eyes about; well aware that in Koga's domain, you were always being observed by ninjas. The fact that they were making it so apparent with how quiet it was, meant they were in a way warning anyone off.The traditional house that stood forebodingly before us had all the sliding doors pulled open but only darkness peered back when you directed your gaze inside the building.If you couldn't tell coming here was bad news you were either an idiot or acting in extremely bad faith.When Karen and Agatha stepped out of the darkness I had a momentary flash of memory for my initiation fight and half considered if they might have baited me here for some training exercise.One look at Karen's face revealed that this wasn't a drill or some shitty hidden test.This was serious.I pushed forward, ignoring the fluttering leaves in the trees that were probably shinobi. If I were a paranoid sort I suppose they would only be doing that much as a warning to 'announce, or prove myself to be who I was'. I called up my rock and dark energy and became a towering edifice that surveyed all before me. A dark mountain that looms."Who are we waiting for?" I asked, my voice having an interesting resonance that rumbled forth and silenced the twitching trees.Sabrina merely floated along next to me, making me realise I'd lengthened my stride without really noticing, the act of covering more distance simply happening and not a conscious thought on my part.Agatha smiled but didn't cackle at the display of power I'd unknowingly performed. "We only just arrived. I have brought with me a few channelers and Karen her minions.""They're my Trainer Entourage!" growled Karen without the usual heat. I glanced past the two women and noticed some familiar faces."Molly and Annabelle, right?" I said recalling the time we'd raided a Team Rocket base together with Dennis. The pair nodded and stood a little taller at me recognising them. To the other side, a pair of familiar faces from the Guardian training we'd undergone bowed politely."Katrina, … Tiffany," I said, easily greeting the first only to eye the second.Tiffany bowed demurely and rose languidly, making sure to display how her dress clung to her form. She smiled when our eyes met and I snorted in exasperation.I'd always recalled Tiffany as being part of the very rough introduction to the Guardians and thus kept a careful eye on her. She was always a little too friendly for my liking.Sabrina glowed a little brighter and Tiffany straightened and looked away from me, her smile vanishing faster than ice in the face of a Fire Blast."Koga?" I asked, looking around only for the man himself to appear, on his back a sword was strapped while bracers with wicked-looking hooks were also attached. I blinked in surprise and considered asking if he didn't think that was overkill only to realise that if anything, I should be copying him.We were about to engage with a group known for being part of the Hoenn military, specifically their navy.I swallowed. "What do we need to know?" I asked.Koga nodded seriously. "You will need to know much in a very short space of time, but here is not the place to talk," he said.He gestured for us to follow him towards a nondescript bush that stood off to the side. He marched up only to crouch before it. He tugged on something that I couldn't see and the entire bush shifted on a hinge revealing a hidden doorway into darkness. "Come, the true logistics centre is in here," he said, moving down into the tunnel without concern."I think I'll avoid the Ratata warren and make my own way," Agatha said with a sniff before she grinned. I could feel the moment her ghost energy twisted through her form only for her to vanish in the next moment as she fell through the ground.Tiffany and Karein smirked at us before copying Agatha causing me to raise an eyebrow. They'd never done that before at training. Had they been holding back, or was this a recent development for them?Karen scowled and tossed her head. "Come on girls, don't let Koga leave us behind," she said as she strode into the tunnel after him. Annabelle and Molly followed her. Sabrina and I trailed through the narrow tunnel after Karen and her entourageThe tunnel twisted in and around on itself a few times and from my talks with Surge in the past along with my training with the Guardians, I could recognise them as ambush points or positions where traps could be installed to waylay intruders.For the moment they were empty.When we exited the tunnel it was a sudden and unannounced occurrence, going from near darkness to sudden light quickly. I glanced back at the doorway to find that a thin cloth trailed down in multiple layers causing less and less light to escape. I'd walked through that cloth without even noticing.Koga must have a very specialised Ariados to pull that trick off. I reached out and brushed my hand through the cloth only to barely feel anything, and that was while I was expecting it.I turned away from the entrance to look at the rest of the room only to be surprised to find what looked like an old war centre with maps laid out and several wall-mounted radios."Koga… you really need to update your command centre if this is the best you can do," said Karen with an unimpressed tone.Agatha huffed. "Don't disregard the old tools, most of the League is too caught up with modernisation to care for older methods of communication allowing for unrestricted and unmonitored lines of communication for those that hold to older methods."Karen sighed. "I'm just saying, you could have some computers and holopads set up to—"Koga flicked a switch and the maps shifted causing a three-dimensional display to appear.Agatha shot him a look and he coughed. "Janine has been working on this," he said.He flicked his fingers and the display shifted to a map overlooking Kanto. With deft movements, he zoomed in to Fuchsia from above. On it, the Seafoam islands were shown, and further south, just on the edges of Kanto's sea border, sat New Island."Twenty minutes ago two submarines were spotted moving towards New Island. It would appear the extremely fast development of the island has not gone unnoticed by Team Aqua. They have sent an expeditionary force to investigate. While we do not have anyone within their organisation we have been able to intercept radio broadcasts between their sea vessels."On the map, two small blue blips began to move towards New Island. "They will make landfall within ten minutes by our estimate. We will not be able to stop them reaching the island, but we should be able to intercept them before they can penetrate too deeply into the facility that Mewtwo has created and potentially enrage him."Sabrina shifted, eyeing the distances involved. "I won't be able to Teleport us very close…Within ten kilometres at most which will still put us directly above the sea."Konga nodded and tapped at the holopad only for Janine to cough and type in something on her side.A circle formed around the island marking the ten-kilometre distance and just how much ocean we would have to cover.I chewed my lip. In any other situation, I doubted that would be an issue for Zephyr, but with Mewtwo possibly raising a storm? That might make it a bit more touch-and-go. It would depend on how amiable Mewtwo was."Any thoughts on how Mewtwo is responding to Team Aqua encroaching on his territory?" I asked. That was the big issue here after all. We did not want to agitate a Legendary pokemon if we could.Team Aqua sticking their heads right into the Feraligatr's maw rather forced our hand, however."No response as yet," said Koga. "We need to stop Team Aqua from antagonising him. For that, Sabrina's psychic abilities will be of paramount importance."Sabrina made a face. "Once we get closer I don't think it wise to rely on my psychic abilities as I have no doubt that Mewtwo would be aware of me.""As the person that has the best interactions with Mewtwo thus far, you are crucial to making peaceful contact should it be required," said Koga. Agatha nodded at this while Karen bit her lips. I could just tell that she wanted to scoff, but she knew she couldn't refute the words.She did straighten up after a moment. "What if Team Aqua has specialists like myself? Dark-type trainers to negate Mewtwo, or pass undetected?"Koga made a face. "We will need to act on humanity's behalf. We cannot allow them to enrage a Legendary."Koga made a gesture and the map rose with the Seafoam islands and Shamouti being highlighted in red.I grimaced, both sites housed other Legendary pokemon. If Mewtwo became agitated it might cause a chain reaction, especially if he called forth a storm like he had in the first movie featuring him."So we're going into a hot situation that is delicate, to say the least, against a force that will have no issue with going…" I paused, having been about to say nuclear, but that wasn't the term in this life. "Well, going Legendary on the situation," I said tentatively."Yes, a rampaging Legendary, or more, is at risk. We will need to be quick and extremely clever, but most of all lucky!" said Agatha with a smirk.She inhaled and straightened up as her shadow gained its own grin. "Ah! Just like old times!" she said and I could only shake my head, my eyes locked on the tiny pinprick that depicted where everything was going to come to a head."Alright? New island here we come," I said.Sabrina teleported us to the seafoam islands first. Having been watching for it, I was not surprised when she flinched minutely. I squeezed her hand as the question I'd been wondering about the seafoam islands was answered.Articuno had a nest here.Sabrina squeezed me back before gesturing with her head to the south. "We will be teleporting in a few seconds, have your flying or water type pokemon prepared," she said.I reached for Zephyr's pokeball while Sabrina looked to Alakazam."Three, two, one," said Sabrina counting down the next teleport, so that all of us would be ready to move. From a single practice session with the Guardians we'd learnt it was important to have a verbal cue, otherwise, people like myself or Karen were slow to react.A flash of light momentarily blinded me but I was ready for it, and was already releasing Zephyr a heartbeat after I felt my environment change.Zephyr appeared beneath me and I fell all of a few metres before landing on his back with him only buckling a little."Stay within ten metres of sea level! Otherwise, the radar that Team Aqua uses will detect us!" called Koga from his position on his Charizard's back.Karen, who was using a giant Honchkrow glowered at Koga and eyed the waves and howling wind. I hid a pleased smile as I strapped myself into my flying saddle, only to tug my scarf into position so that no cold air ran down my flying jacket.Karen and her entourage, it turned out, were the only people in our group who didn't have some form of flight jacket.Agatha had a rather interesting canvas-like uniform with a leather helmet that looked like a flight suit from my past life for the First World War aviators. She wasn't using a flying type but instead had a pack of Ghost-type pokemon supporting her and the Channelers that she had brought with her.Sabrina herself merely hovered in the air, held aloft with her own psychic power.I whistled, impressed despite having seen her do feats like this multiple times before.Sabrina gave me a smile only to nod to the side indicating an oncoming wave that Zephyr and I had to dodge around."Spoink shit!" growled Karen as she barely avoided the wave.With that the team began to move, gliding over the water and occasionally dodging the waves. With each splash and burst of wind, Karen released a new torrent of curses that carried on the wind.Koga slowed his Charizard to match her. "If you keep that up! They'll hear us!" he called to her only for her to glower at him."Screw you! You have a Charizard! You're not freezing your ass off!"Koga sighed and tapped his pokemon on the shoulder.Charizard performed a barrel roll over the back of Karen's Honchkrow and I could only watch as Koga's hands blurred.Buckles unclasped and straps were thrown aside and for a moment I thought Koga was about to throw Karen into the ocean to fish out later.Instead, the barrel roll ended and I was left gaping.Somehow, Karen and Koga had switched places. Now Karen sat atop Charizard's back while Koga… stood with his scarf flapping in the wind.If it had been impressive when the Pewter Flight club did it, it was even more impressive seeing Koga pull it off without his partner even knowing what was happening. It was a wonder Karen hadn't flinched and caused an accident.Or had she and Koga merely accommodated for that as well? It was hard to judge with how quick he'd been.I turned my head away.For all that Koga could be frustrating to deal with sometimes, that had been cool.I felt like it spoke more of Koga's skill than Karen's calm attitude that the manoeuver had been pulled off.I glanced back over my shoulder and saw that Karen was still looking a bit dumbfounded at her changed position.Heh, that was certainly one way to silence her."New Island! Dead ahead! Prepare yourselves!" called Agatha from the midst of her ghost pack.I leaned down into Zephyr's back, my left hand moving to Tide and Shrek's pokeballs, more than ready to deploy them should we come under fire.We raced low along the water, eyes peeled for any incoming missiles or rocks that might threaten us. I couldn't see anything but I still felt like something or someone was watching us. I shot Sabrina a look and she had a tense expression on her face as she flew on. Her eyes weren't tracking the shoreline but instead the top of the island where the dark castle loomed.Glancing up was enough to send a shiver of fear through me. It was everything I'd imagined with tall dark towers that dotted the top of the island, while numerous small windmills spun silently. Green and yellow orbs bobbed like fey lights beckoning us to come closer while lighting up the dark metallic walls with a green pallour that made me think of horror movies.If she could feel Mewtwo, surely Mewtwo could feel her, right?I swallowed wondering how he was going to react to our appearance. Sabrina had mentioned feeding him positive core memories to help him. Would that mean he was different from the cold and vengeful pokemon that appeared in the first pokemon movie?Or would he be something else? More thoughtful and collected?If he was as sentient as a human he might be struggling with the newfound emotions.Was that even a good thing?I knew for a fact that pokemon could get emotional, or even hormonal. What would it be like for a pokemon that had been repressed for so long to experience emotions once more.No lights flickered, and nothing seemed to stir on New Island as we came closer. We had only the barest idea of what we were racing towards.The timeline and situation had changed enough that I wasn't confident I knew how Mewtwo would respond to this invasion. Last time he had… not fled, a pokemon as powerful as him couldn't be said to have fled.He'd adjourned to contemplate the information.I cast my mind back, back then he'd rejected Giovanni and seized freedom, but he'd also spurned Sabrina's offer of friendship.Would us turning up here cause more issues?I had no idea what it would do. None of us did, which was a big problem.I pushed the thoughts away as I darted my gaze about the shoreline, not spotting the submarines that had caused this entire situation.Koga flew in front of me, still posed in an upright standing position that… well I had to give it to him, made him look damn cool. "Make landfall on the upper level and call in your pokemon," Koga barked.We did just that, landing and dismounting from our pokemon before returning them. I shifted, feeling like something was off. I eyed the area around where we'd landed. There wasn't much actual free area with the size of the building Mewtwo had created. Had we landed near the arena… had Mewtwo even built the arena this time?What was this facility for?Koga was also surveying the area with a critical eye. "Mewtwo has suffused his power throughout the island…" he said with narrowed eyes.Agatha and Sabrina all nodded.I glanced over and found Karen, like me, was also able to feel that something was off but unable to put our fingers on what.Agatha waved a hand and a trio of Haunter floated away, notably without their typical jeering or menacing attitude.They must have been able to feel the crisp power of Mewtwo. Had his building everything on this island caused a pseudo-Psychic terrain or something? I chewed my lip and pushed the thought to the side to ask Sabrina about it later."Do we know where they made… landfall?" I asked.Koga shook his head. "Only that they intended to, from our approach I detected nothing amiss," his eyes continued to dart about. "Apart from the psychic presence," he continued after a moment.I grunted, and when Koga made some signs for us to move as one I felt a surge of relief. We weren't going to break the party. Yes, Agatha had sent some Haunter out as scouts but that was just good thinking.Breaking the party would have surely triggered all the red flags.Heck just being here made me start mentally reviewing the guide on how to survive in a horror movie.First, if there was a noise, it wasn't just the wind. Should I check it out? No. Were we wearing the right attire? I reinspected everyone only to pause on the Channellers. They seemed to be wearing some sort of traditional footwear rather than supportive runners."Hey, girls got any joggers?" I said, causing them to blink owlishly at me.Sabrina frowned at me only to blink and reassess her surroundings. She, as the only other person who had entered an obviously haunted castle with me in the past, knew about my 'plans for haunted houses'."You should release Gawain," Sabrina said while eying Katrina and Tiffany. "Can you run in that outfit?"When they shook their heads and made to argue the importance of their attire Sabrina dismissed them. "They will make decent sacrifices," she said firmly alluding to one of the rules I'd told her once.Women who wore impractical clothing into a haunted house actively lowered their chances of survival, and should never be stood next to.I'd mostly said that to make Sabrina stop wearing that extremely doll-like dress.I released Gawain and he raised his axe-like claws with a tentative glance around. "Klea-vor?" he asked. I pat him on the shoulder."Need you out so that if something jumps us you can Stone Axe them," I said seriously.The others took that moment to release their own singular pokemon that would be able to walk with us without making our group too large.Sabrina's Alakazam merely stroked his moustache, his spoons held out as he slowly rotated in a slow orbit. Karen noticed this and frowned. "What's he doing?""Divining where Team Aqua are," Sabrina replied.When Alakazam started to lean forward and his spoons began pointing down I could only click my tongue in annoyance. "There must be a grotto down there or something," I said.Hadn't Team Rocket entered New Island via that method… no, Ash, Misty and the OG Brock had as well on the boat… no that was wrong as well they'd capsized and needed to use water pokemon to save themselves."It makes sense they'd find a route in via the ocean. We must have missed it by how we came in," I said. "Should we circle back around?"Koga and Agatha shook their heads. "Team Aqua will have secured their exit," said Agatha.Koga nodded. "There is also a chance that they will have set out mines.""So no water entry and we need to find a way to them… or a way to talk to Mewtwo," I summarised."Preferably the former," said Agatha as her eyes flicked up towards the tower structure that screamed 'boss fight area' in my mind.Agatha gestured towards the tower. "Team aqua if they encounter us while negotiating with Mewtwo will disrupt us."I turned to Sabrina to see if she'd been able to make contact with Mewtwo only for her to shake her head. "He seems to be ignoring me, or focussed on something else, I can't tell and I am not willing to… poke at his mind for his attention."I nodded grimly. "So, maximum effort?" I said with a smile to which Sabrina nodded. The others looked at me and I just rolled my eyes and gestured for Koga to lead us into the totally not a haunted castle that Mewtwo had made for himself.We approached what looked like a large circle only for the circle to split apart, retracting into itself.We all paused when we found ourselves in a room that expanded out before us. The, room unlike outside, was well lit with lights that sat atop small platforms. Each of them were the shape of pokeballs.Above us, balconies twirled around the room making me itch as I realised how many alcoves there were for people to have the high ground against us.In the middle of the room, a spiral staircase rose while surrounded by a moat of water. I paused, realising I knew precisely where we were.This was the room where Fergus, Corey, Neesha, Ash, Brock, and Misty would recover from braving the storm in the movie.This was where they would meet the most 'powerful trainer in the world' only to learn he was also the most powerful pokemon.A pretentious claim, but one that was oddly suitable for drawing in strong trainers.Often all a trainer or an organiser for a specific event had to do was claim the title of strongest in the world and it would result in trainers piling in to prove themselves against them. It was a great way of generating hype and interest.I blamed the last World Cup's results.Due to the format, there hadn't been a method to deal with draws when each trainer simultaneously knocked out the other's pokemon.This had led to a lot of chaos and the winner not actually being possible with four double knock outs, narrowing the field of trainers that reached the end while others advanced unimpeded with how the rules had been set up.Lance himself had been one such double knockout from memory but I couldn't recall who he'd faced.I hadn't given the World Cup much attention as I'd thought it overly pretentious for Indigo, Hoenn, Orange and Sevii to call themselves 'the World'.I think Wallace from Hoenn had been the winner in the end but I was probably wrong about that.Koga waved us forward and our group advanced, fanning out and forming a loose circle with myself on the right edge while Karen and her crew formed the left edge of our circle. Sabrina and Alakazam hovered in the middle, their gazes swivelling around and taking in all the features of the room.I glanced up only to find myself looking into darkness with the lights not being strong enough to reveal what was at the top of the spiral staircase."Agatha, recon?" Koga called, his eyes darting about. He out of all of us looked to be the most on edge, but that was probably due to his being forced to stay out in the open while Mewtwo was unaccounted for. With Koga being a horrible match up and Mewtwo's powers. Agatha had put her foot down on Koga doing his usual sneak-off routine.Forcing the ninja out in the open in a potential combat situation seemed to be rather fraying his nerves, however.It had to be counter to his instincts at the very least."We need to find a way to secure any access points to any waterways beneath us," Koga said, pointing towards a cluster of doors. "We need to find out which are our targets quickly," he said as he looked into each shadow pointedly as we moved further into the room.Agatha raised a hand and from her shadow, another four ghost pokemon spilled out leaving only a single set of eyes to glower out and wink at us sinisterly.I watched the ghost pokemon race out, some went high and others went low before I lost sight of them as they became invisible.The ghost pokemon reappeared at the doorways and the various doorways on our level.Two doorways led into large rooms much like this one while another led to a hallway that glowed green in a manner that caused an itch in my brain.Hadn't the room where Mewtwo cloned other pokemon glowed green like that? Was that what was down there? The cloning facility?"There!" called Katrina, her hand pointing to the left where a Mismagius had revealed a door that opened to a cave system that angled down.Voices echoed up and I knew straight away that we had found what we'd been seeking. We broke into a jog making straight for the door only for a trio of men and women to appear in the doorway.All of them sported white and blue shirts and socks that made me think of stereotypical sailors. On top of their heads scarves were banded tightly around their heads with the Team Aqua symbol proudly on display."Boss! We got company!" screamed one woman back down the tunnel they'd come from even as the other two released all of their pokemon revealing a small force of twelve pokemon.Muk, Golbat, Pelliper, Mightyena, Starmie, two Crawdaunt, another pair of Tentacruel, a Cloyster, Sealeo, and a Golduck.Their trainers both gave their teams orders as we raced to close the gap with them, our hands reaching for our own pokeballs."Charge!" shouted one of them while the other slashed his hand in front of him."Defence Up!" he called and all of his pokemon began to howl, screech, or buff up as our pokemon were released.Sanchez took one look at the assembled pokemon and began to spark up, knowing he was going to go big for this line-up.I didn't hesitate to unleash him as I twitched the bond we shared and fired off a thunder straight away at the pokemon charging us.Pelliper and Golbat vanished as the lightning arced down. When the powerful electric move ended it revealed a knocked-out Pelliper on the ground while Golbat was revealed to be in a Protect shell.This didn't stop my other pokemon from knocking it out of the air the instant the Protect faded.From there the battle was joined with me, Karen, Molly, Annabelle and Tiffany overwhelmed the trainer that had sent his pokemon out to engage and slow us down. We made short work of the six pokemon with the twenty we had, twenty we'd released but it did slow us down as after Pelliper, each pokemon held with a Protect or a Detect, avoiding our initial strikes only to be taken down with follow-up strikes.As the final pokemon, a Crawdaunt went down under a barrage of Dark Pusles from Knight and Karen's Houndoom.I spotted the aggressive Grunt begin to twitch and froth at the mouth.Hmmm he was whiting out from six pokemon being taken out? He truly was a Grunt then, despite his rather impressive— for a Grunt— pokemon roster.He'd still done enough to slow us down.Or at least slow down half our group.We were after all more than used to working as a team on multiple different objectives.While we'd been stomping down on one of the Grunts, Koga, Agatha, Sabrina, and Katrina continued to race forward. They made a beeline straight for the trainer who was trying to create a beachhead for his fellows.Sabrina even tried to snipe him with a well-placed light fixture that was ripped from its bracket in an attempt to brain the Grunt into submission. Sadly, another Crawdaunt stepped into the path of the attempted snipe, catching and crushing the light while shrouding itself with dark energy."They're playing for keeps!" shouted the grunt with a high-pitched tone. Heh, he must have been rattled with how Sabrina had gone after him.For a second it looked like the Grunt would flee, only for his resolve to be bolstered by the return of the female Team Aqua Grunt.The girl released her own pokemon to help hold the line and I could only click my tongue as they unleashed a series of Surf only to freeze them solid.Koga pointed and from his team, an Arbok leapt forward exhaling a huge gout of purple gas straight at one of the walls. When the poison touched the ice I was impressed to see that it was causing the ice to sizzle and hiss.Koga didn't leave it there though. With the gas beginning to liquify the wall while condensing itself, he followed up with his Charizard unleashing a powerful Fire Blast that knocked the base level out from the frozen surf.The icy walls tumbled down with a deafening boom that shook the room. Within the mists, shapes moved as we lost sight of our targets.They however couldn't see us closing on them with my group and our pokemon made up of some truly powerful pokemon that barreled into the side of the Team Aqua pokemon forcing them into melee.A moment later the mist was blown away by a powerful gust of wind that I leaned into as it threatened to knock us back.Damn, that hadn't been one of ours. I snapped my hand out, grabbing at Tiffany as her large robes acted like sails causing her to be blown back."Urgh!" she grunted as she came to a sudden stop in my grip.I smirked to myself, Sabrina had warned her.I held in the urge to tease the woman however as I instead noted that Team Aqua reinforcements had arrived with what seemed to be a whole platoon of trainers. I stepped away from her, my mind aware of the second part of the warning I'd given Sabrina.Twenty trainers, with all of them reaching for their pokeballs grinning at us sinisterly.I cracked my neck, locking eyes with a man wearing what looked like a white sailor's jacket draped across his shoulders.Around him was his pokemon team along with some lower-ranked Aqua members.His team seemed to be the cause of the winds. I was interested to spot a pair of Gyarados with their fins fanning the winds. Alongside them were a Snorlax, a Lanturn, a Scizor, and a Swampert.Gawain locked eyes with his modern evolution, his axes rising up in challenge. Shrek did the same with his counterpart as around us pokemon and Team Aqua roared and growled in anticipation of the coming battle. The noise they unleashed was an intimidating show of force alone.But it wasn't enough to have any pokemon or people in our group faltering.This was exactly what we'd trained for.I leaned forward a small smirk on my lips as I let Tiffany huddle behind me, her ghost pokemon pulsing and glowing in agitation as our own pokemon gave back their own battle cries.I released the other pokemon I'd been holding back, allowing Titan and Empress to take to the field.My smirk grew as more than a few Team Aqua grunts stepped back at my pokemon merely appearing.Koga drew his blade and raised it towards Team Aqua. "Guardians of Indigo! To battle!" he roared, signalling the start to the battle proper.Our pokemon surged forward, I readied myself for a fight that hadn't been seen in years, a proper battle of two forces fighting to conquer each other.Defeat wasn't an option. We needed to put them down hard."Hyper Barrage! Full Broadside!" roared the Aqua Commander.I blinked in surprise as not one, but a full wave of pokemon rose up, their maws beginning to glow as they heralded the oncoming wave of Hyper Beams.Fuck, I thought.That was a good opening move.
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"Hyper Barrage! Full Broadside!" roared the Aqua Commander.The full wave of pokemon rose up like a firing line from my past life.Maws stretched wide as energy coalesced. I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck and something dark put its hand on my shoulder like it was half a step away from claiming me.I knew without looking that I and the others with me were now staring death in the face.A full barrage of Hyper Beams was a great opening move.If this had been anyone else facing them, they would have probably won the battle then and there.Sadly for them, we Guardians had veterans of the old wars and were wise to their tactics of full broadsides."Protection detail!" shouted Koga even as pokemon shifted about, moving with alacrity to where they needed to be in a heartbeat.A heartbeat was all they had after all as within the next, the Hyperbeams were unleashed causing a roar that filled the room shaking it as powerful beams of energy came at us.Our pokemon were up to the task however and they formed a blanket shield with Protect after Protect that led to an impenetrable wall.The Beams slammed home against the impossibly strong Protects and caused a resounding boom that filled the room rattling and shaking everything around us.One of the more delicate spires that rose up holding a light was cut through and toppled but the sound of it smashing into the ground was lost due to the onslaught of Hyper Beam.Koga made a signal and we all nodded. From what he'd taught us, the 'Broadside' was a Team Aqua special that was practically their signature move when they grouped up. It was why it was always best to get them in small groups or attack them one on one. Usually, they only ever had one or two pokemon that could unleash a Hyper Beam.When they got to six or more? Then things got as complicated as they could, if they were clever and well practised, rotate which of their pokemon were attacking us.Hyper Beam after all had a recharge value while Protect had a failure risk after the second. It was unlikely that they'd get off more than three of any of their pokemon, but three wasn't a number we could handle.Even trying to absorb a second Broadside would be beyond suicidal.We needed to counterattack and disrupt them.Thankfully we had some of the best pokemon around for just that.I stabbed my hand upwards and Don and Zephyr soared up taking the high ground as other pokemon ascended with them. From on high ghost, flying and psychic Pokemon unleashed their own attacks.I saw beams and gusts of winds arc down only to be lost in the wave of flickering lights.I felt the attack land as more rumbles rippled through the ground. I turned to Sanchez. "Any possibility of going under them?" I asked eying the hardened floor that looked like it had been made from a single piece of melted metal. That… could pose an issue for some of my pokemon.Sadly my premonition regarding the floor proved correct as Sanchez stabbed a hand into it only to exert a lot of effort to drag his finger through a little of it."Go… lem," he said sadly with a shake of his head.I cursed. "Koga we're not going to be able to tunnel under them unless we get them out of this building. The floor is made of something that is resistant to my pokemon digging through it."Koga merely nodded and I proceeded with my other options. "Sanchez thunder, launch it where they were last," I said watching as the light show of the Hyper beams died away indicating that our pokemon up above were having some impact.Sadly there was still a lot of smoke in the way, which made it tougher to line up a target directly. Once again, this was something we'd trained for."Sabrina! Call them out!" Agatha ordered as the Protect wall in front of us started to drop.Sabrina's eyes glowed as she connected with her Alakazam who paused in firing a Psybeam to instead act as a spotter for us.Sabrina's hands rose. "They've split into three clusters," she said calmly, her hands stabbing in three directions. "The group on the left is about to unleash a barrage of Surf at us to buy themselves more time."I knew straight away what to do for that. I stabbed my hand forward. "Bertha! Tide! Ice Beam!" I roared. Both of my pokemon responded excellently; they unleashed cold blue energy where I'd indicated.While I was doing that, Sabrina directed the others to line up on their own targets."Take down those hovering pokemon!" called a loud voice from beyond the smoke. I noted that it sounded like it was coming from the central most group which Karen and Sabrina were prioritising with a powerful pincher attack. Two Houndoom charged forward with an inferno encircling them just as Sabrina arced lightning up and over by using her Psychic pokemon to redirect the natural movement into something much more condensed and dangerous.I gestured and Sanchez added his own spark into the forming lightning dragon that howled as it rose up and shot down.It was loud, bright and very attention-grabbing.Which made it the perfect distraction for Agatha's ghost pokemon to slip into the Team Aqua lines and begin laying about themselves with cackling glee.A flicker in the smoke was the only warning I got as a Sharpedo launched out of the smoke, fangs gnashing as it locked eyes on me.Before it could devour me, Titan spun, his tail whipping about to slam down and pin the sharpdeo even as Shrek slid into position in front of me, his twin fists raised to punch out the threat.This proved to be a very good call as a moment later a shimmer appeared and out of instinct more than any true understanding of what I was doing had me pointing at it. "Hydro Pump," I called to Shrek and he unleashed, this causing a hidden Starmie to be revealed.Hmmm, it seems we weren't the only ones trying to slip daggers into our foes.The smoke was starting to clear and I heard the Team Aqua commander once more speaking up. "Our boarding action is faltering! Shore up your lines!" he called.Wonderful, nautical terms that obviously meant something to the Aqua members as they shifted and called orders to their pokemon, but might as well have been a second language to us.When a Hitmonchan blurred across the gap towards my pokemon, Sabrina's Farigiraf was suddenly in front of me, both heads smirking at the onrushing fighting type.Hitmonchan still charged ahead however with both arms dropping back to run in what looked extremely uncoordinated. It reminded me of another anime where ninjas adopted a very odd running style.I was about to turn away from the exchange when I felt dark energy building up around the hidden arms. I snapped my attention back and stabbed my hand forward."Selene! MB!" I called, knowing that Farigiraf was about to be Sucker Punched or take some form of Dark attack.My prediction proved true, as Hitmonchan swung its arms up and charged through the Psybeam with its arms in a guard position, dark energy coating them. Then it leapt, one fist cocked back ready to punch out Farigiraf.Selene intercepted it with a Moonblast that blew Hitmonchan out of the air, sending it skipping back to the Team Aqua lines.That didn't stop other pokemon from attacking us. Pelliper and Sharpedo launched themselves forward while other pokemon charged in. A Hitmontop spun towards Koga's pokemon and I was surprised when I realised it was literally launching miniaturised Starmie and Stary with each spin like they were throwing stars.That turned out to be a terrible decision though as Koga's pokemon were more than up to the task of batting away the shrunken pokemon before launching a blistering combination of gas and fire to explode the battlefield in front of them.Seeing all the pokemon charging in made me realise something.The earlier order hadn't been a 'shore up the defences' as I'd expected it to be, but rather an order to double down on attacking us.A twang and a scream made me check to the side.Annabelle had a small spear lodged in her shoulder and was on her knees as blood poured out. My eyes tracked along a small wire that led back to a smug-looking Aqua grunt with a speargun raised in her direction.Annabelle's team, responding to her cry of distress, doubled down and a wave of pokemon attacks blasted forward.The smirking Grunt instantly paled and regretted his life choices as his pokemon and he were blown away. They slammed into the back wall with a sickening crack."Orderly! Orderly now!" roared the commander of the Team Aqua group. It struck me as a very odd shout as everything around them seemed more like chaos as pokemon moves were exchanged and blocked in turn with it being a riotous melee.Koga appeared next to me. "Agatha! Karen Counter blow! Now!" he said, giving the order for our own version of a 'full broadside'.I didn't say anything, merely spiked my aura with intent and fed it along to my pokemon. The only pokemon who didn't realise what that meant was Empress but she knew enough to follow as Tide, Don, Shrek, Selene and other pokemon began to build up for their strongest attacks."Armour up!" roared the Aqua Commander as he realised what was happening and this time we unleashed upon them.Unlike their attacks which relied heavily upon Hyper Beam. Other attacks such as Hydro Pump, Moon Blast, Psybeam, Shadow Ball and more were unleashed.I mentally counted down in my head three seconds before spiking my intent again. The few pokemon I'd had using Hyper Beam stopped, once again with only Empress still disgorging her might.I'd need to work with her on that. Power was good and all but I needed to apply when and where it was used. Especially in team situations like this.Still, a single Hyper Beam that lasted longer than the others wasn't enough to stop my next move."TITAN LEAD THEM IN!" I roared and Titan responded.He rocketed forward having had time to prepare himself. At his side, Jorm and Knight followed all of them building up a corona of power as Giga Impact formed up and was unleashed with my pokemon acting like linebackers in a skirmish.Or in this case, linebreakers. They cut a swathe through the Aqua team members trampling their defensive lines and emerging out the other side before slamming into the walls as they failed to dig in to stop themselves.The impact caused a shake throughout the entire room and the pillars with lights on them tilted and crumbled. This caused the lights to smash and darkness to start claiming pockets of the room.I flicked my eyes about for any falling debris that would hit me or the others but found nothing.I turned my attention to my split-off pokemon and reached into the strained bond with Jorm. He was still close enough for me to feed energy to, so I prepared for the one-two of Giga Impact into Mega Evolution.I was just pushing energy into the bond when a voice echoed out through the room."That, will be enough of that," said a powerful voice that instantly had me looking around.Sabrina shifted all of her focus from Team Aqua to looking around. "Mewtwo? We're sorry about the damage that—" she started to say, only for something in the dark areas of the room to shift.I saw movement and turned, eyes narrowing as I called up Dark energy. What had that—"Pokeballs?" cried Karen in surprise having apparently already turned around herself.I frowned, my mind lurching at the idea that Mewtwo was using… I felt a spike of fear run through me. The only pokeballs that Mewtwo used were dubbed as 'Mewtwo ball or otherwise as clone balls'.These had been notoriously powerful due to their ability to ignore that some pokemon were already housed in pokeballs. Worse, the pokemon didn't even need to be out of their pokeballs. The movie had demonstrated that returning your pokemon wasn't enough to stop them."Beware the pokeballs!" I shouted mind racing for a suitable excuse. "They might be explosives!" I said, ad-libbing a suitable excuse as black pokeballs with red eyes zipped forward."Circle up!" I shouted to my pokemon and they did so, nudging Farigiraf in with them as well for good measure. With me at their centre I could peer out through the gaps and watch as things developed.I caught sight of Team Aqua perking up as they noticed the shift in the battle.Annabelle and her team were with Tiffany and Katrina. Both had their pokemon circling and it looked like Annabelle was receiving some emergency care, but with Annabelle weakened Team Aqua must have smelt blood in the water as their pokemon orientated towards the trio of women with what they had left.They fired off a barrage of attacks only for a single clear barrier to form up in the middle absorbing and negating any attacks.Once more Mewtwo's voice sounded out. "I depart from my home for but an hour, and what do I find when I return?" he said. His voice and his actions forced everyone to look up at him.He hovered slowly towards us, his gaze taking in everything.The downed pokemon, the broken pillars, and also the two groups.For a long moment there was silence as everyone held their breaths. Then Sabrina shifted, floating up with her Alakazam."I'm happy to see you without the—" she began, only for Mewtwo to raise a single digit and silence her."No, we will not talk like this," he said, his mental voice projecting to everyone.He swept his hand forward and the pokeballs that had been hovering like a threat behind him shot forward, their red eyes locked on various pokemon."Blast them away from you!" I roared to my team, not liking the idea of losing any of them.Worse, if Mewtwo's machines worked like they had in the movie then within minutes he'd have a veritable army of pokemon equal to some of the strongest in Indigo.If Mewtwo wanted to fight, numbers were one of the advantages we had.The cloneballs whipped forward and caught a few of the Guardians' pokemon unaware as people like Annabelle were unable to give the balls the attention they needed to.Karen copied me in circling up her pokemon but despite the earlier command we still had some stragglers.Don shrieked in outrage and tried to bat away a ball only for another to sneak in on his blind side. "Sanchez!" I ordered, causing a blast of lightning to fry the ball before it could capture Don."Don and Zephyr!! Get in here now!" I roared at my flying pokemon.Zephyr tucked his wings and fell into the circle of pokemon. Don turned, giving me a considering look that made me want to curse his stubborn streak.That moment of hesitation was enough to see a ball slam into him from above and a red light to absorb him. Titan stepped up barking in surprise before leaning down and digging his claws into the psychic metal. Then with a tortured shriek, the floor gave way and he hurled it after the ball, smashing it out of the air but not stopping it from fleeing with its ill-gotten prize.Other cloneballs followed it, making it impossible for me to track which one contained Don.I glanced around and realised that while the Guardians had taken losses from this surprise avenue of attack, Team Aqua had been gutted as large swathes of their pokemon were captured.I saw a few quick-thinking Grunts return their pokemon thinking they were safe. When the balls failed to slam into the pokeballs I blinked. Wait? Had Mewtwo not installed that feature yet? Or was it just a Movie gimmick?I glanced around and caught more and more people returning their pokemon only to have the cloneballs go into holding patterns around them.Ah, it was not a matter of that he couldn't, but that he wasn't.I looked up and found him watching my pokemon smacking or blasting away the cloneballs.I swallowed. "You want us to return our pokemon then I take it?"He nodded.I swallowed, hating the idea of putting myself in such a helpless position. Sabrina looked at me and nodded in encouragement, urging me to trust Mewtwo.I rubbed at my throat drawing Mewtwo's attention to me once more.For a long moment we stared at each other, man and pokemon observing each other. Then I nodded begrudgingly.I honestly had no idea if I could trust Mewtwo.But I could trust Sabrina, and if she was going to vouch for him then… I swallowed and straightened. "I'll return them," I said.Mewtwo made a gesture and the cloneballs about the field paused in their assault on everyone.Damn, but that was impressive. On a lot of levels I had to give it to Mewtwo. It was a great opening move. Announce yourself, but do it with the ability to end the fighting. He'd then denied an initial discourse until he'd levelled the playing field so to speak.He demonstrated what he could do, but then held back.For a negotiation, it was a great flex.I looked towards Titan and grimaced. "Trust me and Sabrina buddy?" I asked.He nodded slowly and I clicked the return feature on each of the pokeballs. Titan held my gaze even as he broke into red energy.Around me the other Guardians followed my lead, with Agatha and Koga being the slowest. Annabelle, who'd lost all of her team could only impotently glare at Mewtwo.I glanced behind me and through the red energy of my team fading into their pokeballs to see that Team aqua was doing the same. The men and women of their little expedition clustered up quickly with their eyes locked on the still hovering cloneballs.Two sharp blarts jolted me from my inspections. I blinked before realising that the sharp tone was that of the pokeball alerting me that a pokemon, or in this case, two pokemon hadn't returned to their pokeballs. Don's pokeball making that noise made sense which left…I instinctively looked around only to pause as I caught sight of Empress.Fuck.Empress who was standing tall and looking murderous as her gaze stayed locked squarely on Mewtwo."Empress…" I started to say only for her to turn furious eyes upon me."Tar!" she snapped and I grimaced. Oh, all the foes that I wanted her to stand down for, Mewtwo… just wasn't ever a foe she could back down for.He'd cost her too much.I sucked in a breath and turned my attention to Mewtwo. "Mewtwo! I'm sorry to say this but… Empress, the Tyranitar you see still out? She has a history with you and wants to say something!"Mewtwo blinked slowly. "A tyranitar?" he locked eyes with Empress and she snarled."Ah, yes, I remember you, from the incident in the human skyscraper in Saffron, and again at the airport. You were… quite impressive with your power," Mewtwo said, his tails swishing behind him as he considered Empress.Empress took a single step forward and snarled something, her claws stabbing towards Mewtwo's heart.Mewtwo blinked. "The mountains? With the firebird?" he said, tilting his head for a moment. "Ah, you speak of Moltres." He waved his hand and turned his head away from her. "That was not my doing, I was acting for another and knew no better at the time." he said dismissively.I winced and Empress obviously saw red at being brushed off. She roared her rage at him clutching her claws close to herself and I think I saw tears in her eyes.I reached out with my aura to the fragile bond I shared with her, not to placate her. I knew she wouldn't calm down.Mewtwo, for better or worse, had been an instrument of her greatest loss.I felt her turmoil, the grief coalescing into hatred the more she stared at Mewtwo. I raised my eyes to Mewtwo as he looked down upon us."Mewtwo, your actions, while they might not have been entirely yours, were still acts committed by you. To ignore them is disingenuous," I said, walking up to Empress side and putting my hand on her flank to show I was supporting her.This wasn't the smart thing to do in this instance. In fact it was one of the worst things I could do. If I really tried I might, might, be able to get her back into her ball. I knew such a plan had as much chance as a cheeky Snorunt in a Charizard den.Around me, I could outright feel the looks of shock and exasperation directed at me as I basically announced my intent."Brock! Now is not the time to—" Agatha hissed at me.I shook my head. "I'm sorry Agatha, I can no more stop this than I can command the winds to stop blowing," I said without turning my gaze away from Mewtwo as he flicked his tail in agitation.A Cloneball rose and I narrowed my eyes while Empress snarled. "Don't run from this!" I shouted up at Mewtwo.The Cloneball paused.I grit my teeth and kept talking. "While this isn't the best option or in any way a good solution it's the only way to fix a wrong of the past! Empress has a grievance with you due to your part in the destruction of her nest! You were a victim of a poor master then, but it doesn't completely excuse you!" I shouted, making my voice heard and in a way acting as Empress' mouthpiece.Empress snorted and nodded, letting me know I'd hit the nail on the head.Mewtwo lashed his tail once and snorted. "While I am not willing to admit culpability I will hear you out. What do you propose?"Empress didn't hesitate to step forward, her teeth gnashing together. It was clear to all that she intended to fight Mewtwo.I kept my hand on her. "Empress…" she didn't look at me but I knew she heard me with how the small muscles in her skull twitched. I licked my lips and thought about what I could say. "Do you want me to bring out the others to help?" I said.Empress stilled.Everyone that had heard my offer sucked in a shocked breath.Agatha was the first to reprimand me. "Brock don't be a fool!"Karen was quick to follow her. "Fucking nutcase Brock! Just let the psycho pokemon fight if she wants it that bad!"Koga merely stared intently at me. The Team Aqua grunts remained quiet, watching as silent and unwelcome spectators to this sudden drama.I flicked my eyes to Sabrina, and caught her tight, worried little nod. She didn't like it, but she understood and wouldn't stand in my way.Empress shifted and looked at me, for the first time in a while her emotions shifted away from rage. She locked eyes with me and shook her head. "Ty.. ranitar," she said with a growl before leaning down and nudging me with her head pushing me away from her.She then turned back, her emotions spiking as she locked eyes with her hated foe.Mewtwo scoffed. "I see, very well," he said, lowering himself to the ground.Through happenstance or fate, I wasn't sure what to think, they were almost a perfect pokefield apart from each other.I took another step back and swallowed down my worry/relief/fear all of which warred with each other in my stomach.Empress stalked forward, claws flexing.Mewtwo held his ground attention locked on Empress.I heard a scuffle and the squeak of movement behind me only for a shout to sound out.I didn't turn my head to find out what was going on, I was too invested in this fight.Empress continued to stalk forward, her tail grating along the metal floors and raising an unholy shriek of metal as she dug it into the ground.Once more Mewtwo didn't move.I narrowed my eyes as a glint appeared about Empress's form. Ah, she wasn't just letting her rage control her. I felt at the link and found her emotions to be tightly controlled.Tightly controlled and calculative. She was, in a way, beyond rage. She wanted to hurt Mewtwo, but she knew she had to be smart about it.For the first time in my life I caught a glimpse as to why Empress, before any other pokemon. Had held the mountain top closest to Mt Silver where only the strongest could exist.It wasn't just that she was strong, but also smart.With each step she took she built up her defences. Sadly I knew she would have to raise her Special defence for a fight against Mewtwo. I tried to nudge her in that direction with our bond only for her to pause and shot me an affronted look.Right, she didn't even want me subtly coaching her. I sighed and grimaced. Sabrina floated over and took my hand in hers.Empress continued forward, but this time her energy was shifting in a different manner. She locked eyes with Mewtwo and loosened a Snarl. As she did so, spikes of Dark energy blasted out of her.Mewtwo responded by raising a Light Screen in front of himself that the spikes hammered into and began to pierce resulting in him dodging to the side.He narrowed his eyes in annoyance only to find Empress lunging at him with her fangs bared.Mewtwo's hand shot forward and for a heartbeat I hoped that his lack of visible Miracle eye would hamper him.Sadly it didn't, and pink psychic energy snared Empress in place before she began to be pushed back.She snarled again, causing dark energy to tear through her binds and lance towards Mewtwo but once more he was up to the task of dodging her attack with a deft float up and to the side before drifting around her.Empress turned her head, watching as he orbited her. "Is this what you desired?" he asked.Empress growled at him, her fangs bared. Mewtwo merely observed her before shaking his head. "I cannot understand your feelings, nor your attempts at some farcical attempt at revenge. I was not aware of my actions back then. I will not have that man's acts held against me!"Empress roared at this and I shook my head. Mewtwo wasn't equipped to understand the pain of loss, especially not on the level Empress experienced.Still, I held out hope that by fighting her, he would glimpse and understand a fraction of her emotions.A squeaking and slapping noise made me frown and Mewtwo twitch.He flicked a hand to the side. "This… sideshow is a waste of my time," he announced cupping his hands and forming a ball, unlike others that I had seen, was orange-brown in colouration. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I recognised what that was.That was an Aura Sphere!Empress opened her mouth and countered with a Hyper Beam.Both attacks slammed into the other causing a detonation in the space between them and for smoke and dust to obscure Mewtwo. For a moment I held out hope as Empress poured on the power.Only for Mewtwo to shift to the side, appearing with his hands cupped once more at Empress' side.Empress swept her beam around and I found myself levitated out of the path of the energy beam. Others hurled themselves to the ground.She wasn't quick enough though as once again Metwo unleashed an Aura Sphere and this time the attack slammed home into her flank causing her to buckle around the super effective attack. Empress was launched away and slammed into the wall.Mewtwo shook himself slightly and sniffed. He glanced up at me. "Your Tyranitar is poorly trained."I clenched my jaw and felt a spike of hate run through me. How dare he dismiss Empress and her issues like that.When I spoke, I did so by grounding the words out. "She isn't poorly trained, you just don't understand her," I said.I flicked my eyes to where she'd been launched and smirked as she emerged at a full tilt sprint, energy forming around her. Mewtwo whipped around, shocked that his attack hadn't put her down.She pounced on him with Giga Impact and I grinned. She really had been picking up some tricks from training with us and watching the others.Mewtwo clenched his fist and a Protect snapped around him, making me grimace as the sneak Giga Impact failed to do anything.Damn but Mewtwo was fast with his moves.Instead of being repelled from the Protect, Empress continued to grind her face against it, urging the Protect to break and I was shocked when a sound like glass cracking echoed out about the room.Mewtwo as well seemed stunned, but it lasted only for a moment as he shifted, standing up instead of crouching down. He once more formed an Aura sphere right as he dismissed his Protect. Empress strode in, claw swinging only to once more get blasted away.She skipped across the battlefield and I reached for Titan's greatball, agreement be damned.Empress stabbed her claws into the metal and slowed herself down.She looked up and for the second time in the fight, I felt her attention shift to me.She shook her head slightly and admonished me, like a child that was doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.I flexed my fingers on the ball, hating that she was being this expressive with me now of all times.I stared into her eyes and let go of Titan's ball.She nodded and turned her attention back to Mewtwo.She stood, slowly, blood trickling down her mouth.He stared at her. "You should stay down, this is killing you," he said, his head cocked to the side.I grimaced, knowing that he was right. She was ignoring the urge to pass out and making this a fight of life and death.She warbled something that I couldn't understand. I didn't know what had been said. I glanced at Sabrina, hoping for a translation.Sadly Sabrina looked equally as lost.Mewtwo seemed to understand as he tilted his head only to shake it."No, I can't say I do," he said.Empress said something else only for Mewtwo to scoff once more and race to her side where he slammed a third Aura Sphere into her head. She rocked back only to take a hard step.She didn't take another step back.Mewtwo hovered only to tilt his head as more blood poured from her mouth.Ah, she'd succumbed and been knocked out due to the damage she'd sustained. Part of me felt relief at this but another feared just how injured she would be."You won," I said, my voice echoing hollowly.In a way, I knew this had always been the outcome that would occur. Mewtwo was too strong, too fast, too smart to be faced by a single pokemon alone. Not even a Pseudo Legendary of Empress' strength could do more than close the gap.Mewtwo considered me. "So I have," he said, nodding slowly. "So I have." After a moment's consideration, he waved a hand.The cloneball that had been threatening her shot in and I blanched. "Hey! That's not what we agreed on!" I shouted, snatching up a piece of metal and hurling it at the ball. The ball was knocked aside but righted itself to slam into Empress' side, taking her away.Sabrina's hand shot out and caught me as Mewtwo rounded on me. "I agreed to you returning your pokemon! You did not! Now! As the victor I decide what happens to her!" he snapped, his tail once more lashing out behind him.He then shifted his gaze. "And stop attempting to run!" he snapped, flicking out his hand. I turned my head and spotted a trio of Team Aqua grunts being dragged back to their group. Their boots squeaked on the ground.Ah, that was what had been going on behind me during the fight.Mewtwo shook his head and looked back at me. "We had no agreement.. But I will see her cared for," he said.Then he looked around. "With that… sideshow handled now, I think it is now time that we talked."I worked my jaw, hating that Mewtwo was right.Sabrina squeezed my hand. "We'll get her, Don and the other pokemon back Brock."I nodded and exhaled, my eyes locked on Mewtwo.I followed the others over to a still mostly intact set of tables and chairs, annoyed at how things were playing out.This, this was really turning into a day where I wished I hadn't gotten out of bed.Still, it was now Mewtwo's show, and if he wanted to talk, all the better.But there was no way in Giratina's realm I was leaving this island without my pokemon.