Into the Unown (Pokemon Fanfiction OC)

Chapter 283: Ash Ketchum

Author's note:As mentioned previously, today is going to be a massive chapter dump to make up for the fact that I'm not entirely happy with this final arc. 

You'll understand when you read it. Or maybe not. Maybe it's all in my head. Only you can judge.

And for the early birds, I'll be staggering the chapter release every minute. So just wait a bit and refresh the page if the next chapter button isn't available yet.

***

“Woah…” Ash gasped as an explosion sounded and a shimmering barrier became visible in the distance. “Must be Mewtwo’s doing… Let’s hurry, Dragonite! Gotta get to him before something bad happens!”

“Drago-niiiite!”

The winds wooshed by and Ash clamped down on his ballcap, arriving just in time to see a meteoric pink blur surge past a squadron of Rocket members in green camo before piercing through a rapidly narrowing hole in the barrier.

“Hold on Pikachu!”

“Pika-pi!”

“DragoNITE!” With a mighty roar, Ash’s Dragonite broke into Extreme Speed and followed suit, just barely making it through in time for the barrier to seal itself off again but still remain visible from the outside. Whatever it was that Mewtwo broke, it must have completely messed up the base’s camouflage.

Illusory trees faded and gave way to a gaping darkness — a super-massive sinkhole in the ground hidden away from plain sight, as if someone had dug a hole straight through the world.

“Oh wow, that must be where Giovanni’s hiding.”

“Pika. Pikachu!”

“I wonder how deep it goes…”

“Pika-pi. Pikachu!”

“You’re right, Pikachu. No time to gawk.” Ash affirmed, just in time for a projectile of Type Energy to shoot right past him as his Dragonite frantically dodged out of the way. The attack came from the edge where several blocky constructs lined the rim of the sinkhole, likely a collection of outposts to defend against intruders.

“Darn it! Get out of our way!” Ash furrowed his brows and pressed a Pokeball against the back of his Dragonite’s scaly back to release a stoically posing Greninja alongside them. The amphibious ninja Pokemon looked utterly serene even while standing atop a rapidly accelerating Dragonite, his fleshy tongue-scarf flapping against the wind.

“Pikachu! Greninja! Keep us safe while Dragonite pushes through!”

“Pika!”

“Nin.”

“NIIIITE!!!”

Thunder and Water Shurikens lashed out from the back of the flying Dragon to intercept the hostile barrage. All while Dragonite ducked and swerved, steadily making her way down into that gaping abyss where Mewtwo had dove into.

The hole was deep. Much deeper than Ash was expecting. They kept going down and down until eventually, they came upon some man-made structures, steel bridges criss-crossing that wide chasm and only dimly illuminated by the flashing red alert blaring all throughout the secret base.

“Oh man… We were too late.”

“Pika-pi.”

“Should we still grab Mewtwo and retreat or just finish the job?”

“Piiii… Pikachu!” The yellow rodent admonished with a glare.

“I know, but Nina said reinforcements were coming right? And Team Rocket already knows we’re here. What if Giovanni makes a run for it?”

“Pika…”

“See? Makes sense, right?”

“Pika! Pikachu!” The Pikachu bristled in irritation.

“Tell you what, let’s catch up to Mewtwo first and we’ll see how things are looking.”

“Pika-pi.” Pikachu agreed with a nod, though he was already dreading his partner’s recklessness.

And speaking of the Legendary, another explosion sounded out. But this time, it was a smoking pink blur that was sent crashing into one of the cavern’s rocky walls.

“Mewtwo!” With a tug, Ash spurred his Dragonite to speed up as they rushed to their friend’s aid. ‘Friend’ being a bit of a loose term here since the two weren’t that close. Still, a friend of a friend and all that.

They arrived to the sight of Mewtwo splayed out on the floor — some sort of mechanical structure built into the walls — and looking like he had taken a nasty hit from the side.

“Mewtwo, are you okay?!”

The Legendary groaned. “You… What are you doing here?”

“Nina sent me! She said to pull back and wait for reinforcements.”

Ash felt a pulse of frustration come through. But just as quickly, Mewtwo recovered and glared back towards the hole he crashed through.

Ash followed his gaze and saw the ominous sight of a whole team of Mega Pokemon descending upon them; a Mega Gyarados, Mega Houdoom and Mega Aerodactyl.

“Urk!” Ash and Pikachu winced, the malice that filled the air was enough to turn their legs jelly. “This is… This feels horrible, what is this?!”

Sitting atop the Aerodactyl at the helm was a person. Or, at least, Ash thought they were a person; a masked, blue-haired individual covered from head to toe in sinister looking tubes, machinery and black crystals. Whatever flesh they had exposed looked scarred and raw, their eyes a mere scarlet red glow behind that featureless steel mask.

Ash thought they were a person, but they definitely did not feel like one.

“Nin! Greninja!”

“Drago… NITE!!!”

Greninja leapt to the fore, blaring his Aura to help shield his companions from that overwhelming malice, followed by Dragonite who roared out in mighty fury.

Ash smiled. “Thanks everyone. And you’re right, Greninja, gotta pull myself together.” Because whoever they were facing was definitely another enemy and there was really only one thing they could do under the circumstance. “Let’s battle our way to victory! Are you ready, Greninja?”

“Nin!”

Ash and Greninja closed their eyes and felt for each other’s presence — that familiar wavelength. It had been awhile, years in fact, but their bond was still as strong as ever, like they had never been apart.

“Let’s go, Greninja! Full power!”

“Gren!”

A flash of light and a swirl of Water. And in the aftermath, what was revealed was a Greninja transformed; his features sharper, skin lighter and streaks of red adorning his fins. The swirl of light and Water converged to form a perpetual shuriken hanging from the ninja-frog’s back.

Professor Oak never did get to figure out what the deal was with Ash and his Greninja, since the latter had left on his own quest before they could make the trip to Pallet Town. Best he could theorise was some form of Friendship Resonance, similar to Mega Evolution but not quite.

Mewtwo scoffed. “Refrain from getting in my way. But also, be careful. That man… he can no longer be regarded as human.” A deep seated rage emanated from the artificial Legendary. Whatever they had done to Archer, it reminded Mewtwo too much of his own adolescence. 

“That man, he no longer possesses a will of his own, just a living machine — a mere component that allows for whatever mechanism powers such a strenuous mass Mega Evolution phenomenon. And to think they call us Pokemon monsters…”

“That means if we take that guy out, the Pokemon will lose their Mega forms right?”

“You fool!” chided the Psychic. “Incapacitating the trainer — if you can still even call him that — will only serve to unfetter his Pokemon and send them on a rampage.” Mewtwo growled. “As infuriating as it is, we need to take out the Mega Pokemon individually before dealing with Archer.” Because in their current state, the mindless Pokemon still needed to be directed by the human acting as their central processor

That was the fundamental flaw of Team Rocket’s unnatural means of Mega Evolution. Where before, the bond between human and Pokemon served to bolster one another, now they served as chains, forcefully binding the Pokemon’s will to the human in exchange for raw power. Which meant that every action they took needed to be explicit and deliberate to the human’s intent.

“The optimal strategy here would be for your Pokemon to distract two of them while I incapacitate the remaining one to start.” The floating Legendary looked down on Ash and his company with a haughty sneer. “Think you can handle that, human?”

“Heh!” Ash beamed a confident grin and adjusted his hat. “Easy as pie! Leave it to us!”

“Then I shall reiterate my earlier point; refrain from getting in my way, but also… Be careful.”

Mewtwo’s Aura flared and summoned a pair of Miracle Eyes to overlook the field, all while Archer’s Pokemon roared out in anguish as Ash called out to his Pokemon. And with that, the first proper battle in the war against the menace of Team Rocket commenced.