Mega Mewtwo

"That fucker..." Lucario cursed as Mewtwo Mega Evolved before our eyes.

"Don't worry.... I doubt we'll be doing this often." I reassured him as I tried to catch my breath. I'm not sure how Mega Evolution typically affected the human partner involved, but my current state told me it took a lot more to Mega Evolve a Legendary Pokemon than it did normal Pokemon.

Even now I was still struggling just to stand, my mouth still tasted like blood, and some of it was still trickling from my nose as Joy worriedly dabbed at it. But that didn't matter right now.

Right now, I was completely focused on watching that Gengar get his ass handed to him. And that was EXACTLY what was about to happen, judging off of his current appearance and reaction to Mewtwo's new form.

"'You're the upgrade'? Don't make me laugh! You can't just 'upgrade' fucking MEW!" Gengar snarled threateningly at Mewtwo, but it was obvious to anyone that had been watching that he was truly shaken to his core from the power coming off of Mewtwo.

"What you think is irrelevant. That is merely fact, which I shall now demonstrate." Mewtwo stated plainly, before channeling his psychic power to grab hold of Gengar's body.

"!!!"

This time the ghost type was panicking as Mewtwo immobilized his entire body, preventing him from escaping into the shadows or flat out disappearing.

"Hold on! Let's talk this out little brother!" He pleaded desperately.

"I already told you." Mewtwo said emotionlessly, before closing his fist. "I'm not your brother."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Gengar suddenly screamed as thousands of spirits suddenly started flying out of his mouth, being forcibly squeezed out of his body as Mewtwo free them.

"Amazing..." I uttered at the spectacle.

"What is it?" Misty asked worriedly.

"They are the spirits that Gengar has feasted on since time immemorial, spirits belonging to both people and Pokemon that granted him his strength..." Mr. Fuji explained with visible awe, as if he could hardly believe what he was seeing.

"It's more than that." Lucario stated, to which I nodded in agreement beside him.

"Mewtwo isn't just freeing the spirits Gengar has consume over the centuries." I told them, making everyone confused, but they would realize what I was talking about in a moment.

"Y-YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Gengar shrieked at Mewtwo, except now his sinister and evil aura was dyed with fear from what Mewtwo was doing.

"Of course I can." Mewtwo stated plainly.

"Mew may have made you, but I WILL unmake you."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-!"

With a piercing and haunting wail, we all watched as thousands upon thousands, maybe even MILLIONS, of spirits were forcibly separated from Gengar's body. And as they were freed, Gengar began to grow smaller. And smaller.

Soon Gengar was the size of a regular alpha, before shrinking even more until he was the size of a normal Gengar. And he STILL continued shrinking.

Finally he was only the size of a child's doll, before being forced to spit up the very last spirit.

"Noooo..... Please....."

From the powerful and unbeatable God of shadow and night, to a whimpering and pathetic bug within moments.

"Have mercy..." He begged Mewtwo pitifully.

"This IS my mercy." Mewtwo stated plainly, before swiping his hand and Gengar was turned into nothing more than a poisonous stain on the wall.

With that done, Mewtwo turned towards us and flew our way, making all of the girls tense up slightly before he came to a stop in the air.

"You have my thanks, Ace Ketchum. Never before did I think I may be saved by a human." He told me with genuine gratitude.

"You should also thank Charizard. He's the one who made the rest of the ghost Pokemon run away." I told him while putting a hand on my starters leg. Seriously, he was so fucking BIG now!

"I see. You have my gratitude as well Charizard." Mewtwo said, to which Charizard told him with a low and friendly growl that they were even now.

"So does this mean you were the one who took my two missing Mega Stones?" I asked him teasingly.

"Indeed." Mewtwo admitted as he produced the two stones in question, which I was now able to see that they matched his aura perfectly. Did that mean that there were two different Mega Evolutions for some Pokemon?

"Do you want them back?" He asked me curiously.

"Nah. They're useless to me without you around, so go ahead and hold on to them." I told him, to which Mewtwo nodded in affirmation.

"Actually.... There is a couple things I'd like your help with, if you're willing." I said next.

"Which are?" He asked curiously.

"There's a Houndoom in the Pokemon Tower with a Mega Stone as well, I was wondering if you'd be able to find it for me since I'm not in the condition to search for it." I admitted while pointing out my current state.

"Was that....from me?" Mewtwo asked me.

"Don't think of it like that. I just guess it's a bit more draining to Mega Evolve a Legendary than normal Pokemon." I said while waving away his concerns. But then I added on a more serious note,

"After that, there's also a Marowak on the bottom floor of the tower. She gave her life trying to keep Proton from unsealing Gengar, and I want to ensure she can be buried with the proper procedure."

""!!!""

Both Mr. Fuji and Cubone reacted as I mention Marowak, their auras flaring emotionally as they recalled her death.

"Very well." Mewtwo nodded in affirmation, before going to retrieve them for me.

Of course, I felt bad asking Mewtwo to get them for me. But in my current condition I couldn't do much more than collapse into a nice and comfortable bed. Arceus damn it, that sounded REALLY good....

But not just yet.

"Hey everyone." I said to all my Pokemon, who readily gathered around me. "You were all amazing out there. Every single one of you went above and beyond."

My Pokemon all became bashful from my praise, even Grovyle as he tried to look away coolly.

"I mean it. Now all of you deserve a nice long rest. We're all going to take tomorrow off to rest and recuperate."

That caused a bit of a stir amongst my Pokemon, since we rarely ever just took a day off. But I also noticed Lucario look away pointedly. Knowing him, he was going to go and train in secret.

"A day off sounds nice..." May said with a dreamy voice.

"I know! We can go shopping and see if there's a spa somewhere in town!" Dawn exclaimed happily.

"You guys DO realize the town was destroyed, right?" Misty said as she poured cold water on their dreams, as all of us looked out over the ruins of the town.

Aside from the Pokemon Tower and Pokemon Center, only a few buildings managed to escape the destruction.

"Y-you don think they're going to make US pay for that, do you?" May uttered worriedly.

"Not at all." Mr. Fuji suddenly spoke up, making us all look at him.

"You all saved us, and the people of Lavender town aren't so petty as to make our saviors responsible for a couple of Legendary Pokemon rampaging. If anything, we should consider ourselves lucky that the damage was so minimal..."

My face twitched at the mere thought of that, since Legendary Pokemon were akin to living natural disasters. Had Mewtwo's opponent been anything but Gengar, then it was entirely possible the entire area would've been completely destroyed or altered, like the Seafoam Islands had been.

"I'll try to keep that in mind the next time I have a battle." Came a new voice, startling everyone else as we realized Mewtwo had returned.

"Hey!" I called up to him.

"Here." Mewtwo said, as he passed along a sphere with black and reds to me. The Houndoomite.

"Thank you." I told him while pocketing the Mega Stone.

"And I found your Marowak." He added, before her corpse appeared along with the other half of the bone fragment Cubone was holding.

"Thank you.... Truly..." Mr. Fuji muttered with a voice full of emotion, completely opposite of a moment ago as he beheld the state of his old partner.

"Don't look so sad." I told him suddenly.

"Huh?" Mr. Fuji uttered confusedly as he looked at me.

"All Marowak die after laying their eggs. There's no way she didn't know that. She made her choice when she decided to breed, and I don't believe for a single second that she regretted it. On top of that, from what I understand, she dedicated her final moments to trying to protect her son and Lavender town.

"That's why you shouldn't look so sad right now. Instead, you should thank her for her sacrifice, and let her know she did well. Let her know, that she can finally rest."

"..."

For a moment Mr. Fuji didn't say anything, before he held Marowak's corpse closer as he said,

"Thank you Marowak... Thank you for everything over the years!"

We all watched as the old man broke down, tears streaming down his face as he bid farewell to his partner, and swore that her son was in good hands. Cubone as well began to cry, as he said his farewells to his mother.

Amidst the sobs though, I then said quietly to Mewtwo, "you should probably go find somewhere safe to hide."

"???"

"Why do you say that?" He asked curiously.

"Because, your transformation should be wearing off soon, and if it's like Lucario's you'll be weak and exhausted for a while afterwards. That's why you should find somewhere safe to hide, in case any more people from Team Rocket come to find out what happened."

Even as I said that though, I put my bag on the ground and dug through it until I found what I was looking for. Which I then held out to Mewtwo.

"Here. I know it's not much, but it's my thanks for helping us out so much. I'll try to get you more later."

"!!!"

Mewtwo's eyes went wide when he saw the pudding cups I was offering him, before he coughed lightly and said coolly while looking the other way, "your thanks are unnecessary, but I shall accept them anyways."

I smiled wryly as the pudding cups floated up out of my hands from Mewtwo accepting them, while noticing Wendy's eyes go wide from the side. That's right, I tamed mother-fucking Mewtwo with pudding cups!

"You as well." Mewtwo said suddenly, making me focus on him yet again as he continued, "truly, thank you for your help Ace Ketchum."

"Any time. Just try not to make it a habit of me having to bail you out." I told him jokingly, but if that does become a repeat experience then we were well and truly screwed.

"I'd say the same to you." Mewtwo said in what I believed was a joking tone, which surprised me almost as much as when I saw the edge of his mouth curl upwards.

I blinked in surprise and the Legendary Pokemon had vanished, teleporting away to hopefully find somewhere safe to hide like I suggested.

There was a beat as everyone realized Mewtwo left, before I turned to Wendy and said, "Sorry, but I think I'll leave the rest to you and Kate. I desperately want some shuteye."

"Understood, you look like hell." She replied as I turned towards the Pokemon Center to go find a bed. "Oh! One more thing though Ace!" She called out before I could leave, making me turn back only to be surprised as her lips touched my cheek.

"Well done out there." She told me after the quick peck, before turning about and marching to the south to let the townspeople know it was safe for them to return.

As she departed though I couldn't help but to admire her ass as it swayed back and forth, before noticing Kate looking between us worriedly.

"What is it Kate? Want to give me one as well?" I asked her teasingly.

"Eh!? Uh... I um...."

The poor girl sputtered uncontrollably as her entire face turned red from embarrassment, before she quickly took off after Wendy.

"Heh." I chuckled at her reaction, before turning to find four girls staring at me.

"What?" I asked, only for them to shake their heads.

I then returned all of my Pokemon to their Pokeballs so they could rest, before going inside the Pokemon Center with the girls to find a bed to fall in.

On the way I saw my reflection in a window, and I really DID look like hell. My usually tan and healthy looking complexion was deathly pale, while my upper lip was stained red where my nose had started bleeding.

If I ever needed to perform Mega Evolution with Mewtwo again, I needed to find a way to make it so I wouldn't get knocked on my ass every time....

Thought for later.

Right now I needed a bed, and the moment we found an empty room I readily went to lay down without leaning myself up or anything. And I'm pretty sure I had passed out before my head even hit the pillow...

***

"And this is the last thing our cameras captured before the airship went down." Said a man with sharp features, a triangular goatee, and a white streak in his otherwise black hair.

Giovanni watched the footage as the true alpha Gengar appeared, their men activated the procedure to capture it, and the damn thing instantly wiped them all out.

"Any survivors?" He asked once the footage went dark.

"No sir. The chips we planted in all our men went dark. It's entirely possible Proton was killed by the true alpha itself before our airship was brought down. Similarly, all of the Pokemon with him, as well as those on the ship, are also deceased. The only survivors were those on the ground at the time, but they all ended up fleeing upon seeing the true alpha appear. The operation can only be considered an utter failure, with unprecedented losses."

As the man, professor Sebastian, finished his report, Giovanni's glower intensified.

It seemed that every time he turned around these days, all he was hearing about were failures and losses! Even something as simple as harvesting some ghost Pokemon and stealing a ceramic mask was met with failure!

And Giovanni knew EXACTLY what caused that failure as well.

Rewinding the footage wth his remote, Giovanni paused it where the image of young man flying around on the back of a Pidgeot could be seen. Yes, there was a Cubone and an old man also on the back of the Pidgeot. But the young man dressed in a red Ranger's jacket was the only one he was focusing on.

"Ace Ketchum."

Giovanni's snarl was met with silence as the other occupants in the room held their tongues, even as Giovanni picked up an Electrode shaped stress-ball on his desk and began squeezing it angrily.

Not only was Giovanni constantly hearing about losses and failures these days, but it seemed any time he'd heard about either of them, his name came alongside them.

"Maybe the true alpha killed him as well?" One of the other occupants in the room, Archer, suggested helpfully.

"No. As much as I'd like that very much, I highly doubt that kid was killed so conveniently." Giovanni replied with a groan.

"Jessie and James are both still tracking him. I can have them move in to try and take him into custody since he's more than likely weakened." The other executive, Ariana, suggested.

"No." Giovanni answered immediately.

"Sir?" Ariana asked with confusion.

"I said no. We don't need to take any more unnecessary risks before the S.S. Anne operation. Have them keep an eye on him, but they are NOT to engage. I want to know every move Ace Ketchum makes from here on out." Giovanni declared while setting the stress-ball down.

"But sir, can we even go forward with the plan to assault the S.S. Anne?" Asked the third and only remaining executive in the room, who had been recently promoted after Petrel screwed up, Grey.

"Indeed. Our losses from this operation may make the S.S. Anne impossible." Archer agreed with him.

"I'll worry about that. You all just get out there and do your jobs." He told the three executives and the head scientist of Team Rocket, who all saluted with a 'Sir' before departing.

The moment he was alone, Giovanni immediately dialed a number that began to ring. And after three rings, the call was answered as a certain man appeared on the monitor before him.

"What do you want Giovanni?" Growled the man on the other end.

"Don't be like that, Archie. Can't I just make a call to an old friend?" Giovanni asked the other man with a wry smile.

"Old friend'? You funded our research into the great and mighty Kyogre while pretending you believed in our dream, when in actuality you were also funding those disgusting thugs from Team Magma!"

Giovanni raised an eyebrow at Archie's accusation, which wasn't technically wrong. However he couldn't help but to find him calling the other side 'thugs' amusing, considering that Archie and most of his subordinates genuinely looked like thugs, and often obtained their supplies and funds through piracy.

"Water under the bridge old friend." Giovanni told him with an amicable smile. "This time I have a job offer for you."

"Forget it! We're not mercenaries!" Archie declared, and was about to end the call when Giovanni asked him,

"How about a little organizational cooperation then?"

"Hm?" Archie paused at that, before asking hesitantly, "what kind of 'cooperation'?"

Giovanni smiled as Archie bit the bait, before telling him,

"I'm planning a little operation in the coming weeks, something right up your alley. Plenty of high value items to be plundered. Team Rocket gets the Pokemon, and Team Aqua gets any and all valuables that are plundered from the target. Which, when combined with this blank check I have before me, would greatly benefit Team Aqua in their race against Team Magma."

Waving the check in question so that Archie could see it, the large and muscular man grunted and hummed in contemplation for several minutes, before finally asking,

"What's the target?"