Gladion's POV

"We're getting closer to the altar," I yell my group while we run through the forest.

"Pretty close I'd say," A guy jumps out of the trees and lands in front of me with a sick smirk. "But sadly I can't let you get any further."

"That's a shame because I want to go further," I smirk and grab Weavile's pokeball.

"Oh really," He says. Based on his confidence level he must be an executive of some sort. "Let's get 'em boys!"

"Boys?" I question but then I hear a few yells from behind me. I look back to see four or five grunts with Pokémon in front of them and ready to attack. I watch Dawn immediately command my Crobat to start battling...

"Let's go hotshot," He taunts. "Or should I say, second place battler."

"If that's what you want," I regain my usual personality. "Make this quick Weavile."

"I, Archer the greatest executive in Team Rocket," Archer declares. "Is about to kick your ass." He smirks.

Archer throws a poke ball high into the sky which is starting to fade to an orangish colour. The capsule explodes to reveal a tall red Pokémon that is shining among the landscape. Its glossy red coat is basically a sheet of metal armour that moulds to his every move.

"Scizor," I nod approvingly. "Not a bad matchup."

"Not any Scizor," Archer says and my instincts start to fear that this won't be easy. "We're meant to destroy any person who threatens the boss, so Scizor... Mega Evolve!"

The bug and steel type immediately starts to glow brightly and its shadow shows a transformation happening. After the blinding light ends, a new Pokémon is standing there, hopping around impatiently.

If it didn't look like a steel type before, it definitely looks the part now. Scizor starts crushing his oversized jaws together while his sharp teal eyes gaze deep into Weavile's soul. Gonna have to bring out my inner Ash Ketchum and win with a heavy type disadvantage.

"Weavile make this quick night slash!" I order and the dark type immediately shoots forward at our target. For an ice type however, he's having a tough time making it through the melting snow at his usual speed.

"Bullet punch," Archer smirks.

Scizor waits and then meets Weavile's fist with his own. Their right and left fists respectively, try to overpower one another with black and grey light flying everywhere. And then Scizor blows Weavile away with his other charged up claw.

We can't win a physical fight against claw-like fists like those. Weavile thankfully is quick to get back on his feet but there aren't many ways I can stop it from happening again. Or maybe...

"Weavile keep your distance with dark pulse," I command the dark and ice type.

The spiral beam of energy fires across the area with perfect accuracy. Scizor dodges swiftly but still not counterattack. Looks like they don't have a special attack at their disposal. "Keep going Weavile!" I yell. "Mix in ice beam too."

Weavile runs around while firing dark pulses and beams of bright and cold energy. Scizor continues to dodge somehow while Archer watches his Pokémon with a smug look. That Pokémon is just too fast...

"Grab him with your claws and then use iron head," Archer says.

"Keep fighting Weavile!" I encourage my Pokémon.

Scizor starts to close in the distance while still managing to dodge Weavile's attacks. It'll get harder for him to dodge so all Weavile has to do is last the next few moments. A beam of ice grazes over Scizor's shoulder which means he doesn't have enough time to dodge anymore.

Weavile brings his hands together to deal a powerful dark pulse attack but then his knees buckle from underneath him. He falls in the snow and looks up to see the powered up Pokémon.

Scizor wraps a claw around Weavile's body before raising him up in the air. Scizor's head appears to become even harder and then he collides his head into the dark type's. Weavile basically faints on contact...

"Return buddy," I sigh.

"Is that all you got?" Archer asks confidently. "I know you have some beast of a pokemon so why not bring it out for some fun?"

I think Silvally can beat Mega Scizor but I may need my number one Pokémon later to help Ash get through the altar. Then I realize that I have half my Pokémon to Dawn to make sure she's always safe. Which leaves me with only one more Pokémon before Silvally needs to get involved.

"Lucario I'm counting on you," I release the bipedal fighting and steel type. At least I have type advantage this time around. "Aura sphere!"

"Keep dodging," Archer sighs in boredom.

"Your mistake," I smirk.

The ball of energy flies by the dodging bug type who smirks at his accomplishment, but then the attack takes a u-turn and crashes into his back. "Run forward and use close combat!" I yell.

Lucario wastes no time charging forward at the fallen Pokémon who tries to get up as quickly as possible. "Bullet punch!" Archer yells back.

Lucario throws his fist forward, only to be met by a huge metal claw. Except Lucario's fighting speed is way better than Weavile's so Scizor is screwed. Lucario switches fists, as does Scizor but gains a little bit of momentum after every connection. This eventually leads to a clean direct hit that Scizor flying into a tree.

"Aura sphere just in case," I say and the fighting type finishes the job cleanly. "Great job," I return him before running towards Archer.

"You want to fight fist to fist?" Archer smirks but instead I kick out his feet from underneath and a few Team Skull members run over.

"Maybe another time," I smirk and watch him get dragged away.

I look back to see everyone else still battling against a never ending supply of now-weaker grunts. I turn to see the very top of the ruins over the ominous trees. "Not going to get much closer than this," I mutter.

I take one last look back to lock eyes with Dawn, and being the mind reader she really is... The blunette nods and I do the same before bolting off ahead.

Ash's POV

"The altar is right there guys!" I cheer excitedly. We've been cruising through so far so how hard will it really be once we get in the Altar of the Sunne.

"Ash you should probably split off from us now," Lillie suggests. "I'm pretty sure we can clear out the area to make sure they can't run in the altar and help out."

"You're right," I nod. "Stay safe guys!"

I turn and navigate my way to the stone walls sticking out among the forest vegetation. This forest is getting more creepy by the minute however while the sun sets. Not exactly a place I'd want to be normally.

"Little late there Ketchum," I see Gladion leaning against a tree near the entrance. "I thought the Alolan Champion would fly though those grunts."

"I didn't exactly do much battling," I chuckle and Gladion's eyes widen a bit. "Your sister took the executive right down."

"Really?" Gladion laughs. "You get blown off an artificial island and one year later you're destroying admins who have been training for years." He shakes his head.

"Blame the system," I joke. "How about we get in there?"

"I was hoping to just stop here," Gladion says sarcastically and starts walking towards the altar.

I follow him in while marvelling at the ancient building. We're walking down this painfully long hallway with tons of boarded up or blocked doorways. Maybe I should be thankful we don't have to be running through this place like a maze.

Then I notice some artificial lighting that starts once we move into a larger room. "Sorry boys but this is where you guys are going to have to stop," A feminine voice echoes through the ruins.

"I calculate that your journey ends here," A second voice that seems pretty familiar joins.

"Can we at least see who's going to end us?" Gladion asks with a smirk on his face.

"Come on out!" I add and then two figures appear on the other side of the room.

One is a woman who is pretty short and has spiky shoulder length maroon hair. She's wearing the executive outfit so we are probably looking at Giovanni's last line of defence.

The guy next to her is the one and only Saturn. His hair is still as blue as ever and his admin outfit is a lot more technical than the others. He must have joined after we tore apart Team Galactic. "Didn't have enough the first time we beat you?" I smirk towards the guy.

"That was a long time ago," He growls. "And this time I'm not taking orders from an idiot, Giovanni is more superior than anybody else in this world."

"And Giovanni has put his trust in us to keep you from getting any further," The woman declares. "You are not ruining our plans this time... Ash Ketchum."

"Ariana and I are easily the strongest in Mega Team Rocket," Saturn states.

"I've heard that already," Gladion jokes. "From almost everyone in your organization."

"I can't really remember how many of them beat us," I pretend to play dumb. "Oh ya, none."

"Bronzong!" Saturn stops us from continuing our fun conversation.

"Purugly," Ariana throws out a cat Pokémon worthy of its name.

"Wow," Gladion comments. "Definitely no points for Pokémon appeal."

"Beauty definitely isn't its strongest point," I joke. "Hopefully it battles better than it looks."

"I think it's time Silvally," Gladion brings out the artificial beast of a Pokémon. It's horn is pitch black so it must have its dark type memory in. Looks pretty cool to be honest.

"Greninja!" I bring out the water type starter Pokémon. He stands beside Silvally with a slight glare. They exchange words before coming to some sort of an agreement. "A few days ago these two were on opposite teams," I chuckle.

"Ash leave Greninja and go," Gladion whispers. "I'll cover you until you're past them."

"Look who's confident enough to take them both down," I smirk but then nod seriously. "Get the area as clear as possible after dealing with these two."

"Got it champ," Gladion nods.

I wait for Silvally and Greninja to start moving a bit more before charging across the battlefield. Deciding to be a ninja like I really am, I run straight through the room while feeling our Pokémon's attack fly all around me. I get to Saturn first who reaches out but I slip right by.

I make it to the exit and never look back. The dim hallway lighting flies by me while I process what just happened. "It shouldn't have been that easy," I mutter. "Maybe I'm getting superpowers from you buddy," I suggest to Pikachu who survived the ride.

He rolls his eyes while continuing to look ahead from his perch on my hat. We make it outside and the sky is a bright orange that reflects off the snow beautifully. If only we weren't trying to save the region.

I carefully run up a few stoney steps towards the centre of the altar. We get over the ledge and the only thing there is a piece of metal in the middle of the altar. I walk slowly forward and as I approach, a grunt pops out of nowhere beside the machine.

He stands there pressing furiously into some sort of screen on the machine. I can feel the heat it's generating and finally I realize that I need to stop this guy. I run forward and Pikachu jumps ahead since he's a little faster than myself.

"Iron tail!" I yell. "Get him away from the machine!"

Pikachu turns his metal tail ahead and swipes at the grunt. He hits him directly and sends the grunt flying across the altar and into a nearby wall. I smile but then I hear a deafening rumbling noise. I grab Pikachu and start to run away as this device starts radiating a bright light.

Then suddenly the light shoots forward into the sky. The beam of light stays stationary for a moment before swirling around in the sky at a violent speed. Mixes of orange and white light flies around everywhere until a hole in the sky starts to appear.

It has a starry night appearance while a colourful border sound rapidly. The portal starts emitting a few light rays that turn into a flooding beam of raw energy. I shield my eyes to preserve my eyesight as it starts to get even brighter.

I wait until seeing that the light has died down substantially. I look up to see the portal dwindling down already, the beam of light going with it.

In the middle of the altar a burnt and crumbled machine lays there in a pile of soot.

"Finally!" I sick laugh comes from behind me.

__________________________

You guys like cliffhangers right?

Thanks for reading and cya next chapter!

Shoutouts

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2. Thanks Syahmies822 for being a vocal supporter of all my books!

Fun fact- I started BTC near the end of our school basketball season last year, and this season just started and the book is about to end.

IMPORTANT

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