Ash's POV

That laugh.

It seems so familiar, like it was etched in my brain as a child. I turn around to see the ringmaster of this operation, Giovanni...

He stands there with a smug look on his face. "Didn't know if you would make it here son," He smirks.

"I'm not your son," I growl. "Not anymore."

"That hurts," He states, the smirk never leaving his face. "But it doesn't matter since the creature we just summoned is going to rip you guys to shreds."

"What?" I question. "I don't remember seeing anything coming out of the port-"

I feel a light poke in the back of my leg. I freeze and feel the mouse Pokémon on my head turn around. "Pika!" Pikachu exclaims and I take a look as well.

A small cloud like Pokémon is laying on the ground in front of me. It has a galaxy like colour and starry "ears".

I can tell that the summoning process took a lot of its energy away. It seems like a pretty defenceless Pokémon in the first place so why would Giovanni bring it to our world?

I pick it up gently and it opens its eyes a little. "It's going to be alright," I say softly. "But you should hide in my bag for now."

It looks at me curiously with a small sound so with Pikachu's help, we get it in the bag. I look back at Giovanni with my own smirk, "Is that the creature that was supposed to 'destroy' me?" I quote.

"You got lucky Ketchum," Giovanni growls.

"So is that all?" I ask. "Because it's getting closer to my bed time."

"You think this is all fun and games," Giovanni smirks. "But we aren't like any other team you've defeated."

"Your plans went wrong, defence was easily penetrated, and I saved a special Pokémon," I recount. "Doesn't seem like anything special to me."

"If you say so," Giovanni states and brings out a handful of poke balls. "How about we have a battle then? A little father-son bonding time?"

"You're not my father," I state. "But I have no problem with defeating you."

"Let's make this interesting shall we?" He smirks. "Everyone!"

Six flashes of light fly out to form six strong looking Pokémon. "I used to be a gym leader," Giovanni reminds me. "I know how to raise Pokémon."

I examine his Pokémon instead of replying to his pointless taunts. He has the heavy hitting pair of Nidoking and Nidoqueen, his sneaky Persian, a Dugtrio which is moving along the ground curiously. Finally he has a Rhyperior which towers over everyone and an Arcanine that is slowly creeping around the outside of the altar.

"Let's go!" I shout and release my four releasing poke balls and Pikachu.

Infernape, Sceptile, Lucario, and Garchomp stand in front of me protectively. Pikachu is perched on Garchomp's wing while they stare at their opponents. I don't know if the altar is going to survive this battle...

"Are you prepared Ash?" Giovanni asks.

I scowl and give no answer.

"Then Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Rhyperior, use earthquake!" He yells.

My eyes shoot open but my league experience has taught me that reacting fast is sometimes the only way to get out of a situation. "Garchomp use Draco meteor and keep them on the ground!" I shout. "Lucario use protect, everyone else get on the walls of the ruins."

Nothing happens for a few moments as Garchomp's burst of dragon type energy rises up in the sky as one contained sphere. It hovers at its maximum point before exploding and causing a chain reaction.

While the sky rains meteors that are racing to the ground with flames and dragon type energy flailing behind, the three ground types on the other side of the field hit the ground with a thundering roar.

The first wave of the earthquake attack lifts up the nicely bricked altar. Sections end up exploding due to the pressure between the pieces of stone and clay. Dugtrio who couldn't really get away, got caught up in one of these pressure bursts, it didn't help with the meteors crashing all around and into him as well.

"One Pokémon down," I mutter while watching the whole field get pelted by Garchomp's attack.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a section of the ruin walls starting to shake and crack from the constant rumbling. And as I expected, it crumbles before our eyes. Dust and rubble flies everywhere and it was enough to distract Arcanine for a split second.

The fire type was already getting hammered by his own team while trying to dodge the Draco meteor. So the wall falling on him was the last straw. Now I have a five on four advantage.

"Lu," I hear a struggling grunt from my strange coloured fighting type.

His green shield shatters and he is instantly blown back by the build up of earthquake shocks. He crashes into the wall and I return him instantly. "Thanks for helping," I say and then put away his pokeball.

Finally the rumbling stops and I assess the damage before continuing. The altar is completely shattered with sharp pieces of stone everywhere, sections of the ruin walls are gone and now laying on the ground. But I still have four Pokémon to take care of with my four remaining Pokémon.

Giovanni's pokemon don't look the best to be honest. They were all clustered together so while their own earthquakes probably offered some protection, they still felt he other's. Persian must've climbed up somewhere because it isn't even dusty.

On my side, Sceptile and Garchomp seem fine but Pikachu and Infernape must've felt some of the shockwaves that made it up the ruins. "I didn't think you would survive something like that," Giovanni smirks. "I was hoping I'd take care of you a little quicker."

"You've never been good at taking care of me," I state. "If you did, maybe I'd be on your side of this battlefield."

"Now," Giovanni smirks.

"Infernape!" I yell but it's too late.

Persian lunges forward and attacks the fire type monkey with its vicious claws. It finishes the job and gets away quickly, leaving a fainted Pokémon behind. "I've seen how that monkey goes into overdrive," Giovanni smirks. "Not something I want to deal with today."

"Ughhh," I groan. "Sceptile take care of them with leaf storm!"

His body glows bright green before shooting a storm of sharp leaves ahead. I lose sight of his whole team before seeing a stream of flames swallow up Sceptile. "Who used flamethrower?" I question.

I wait for the cloud of leaves to stop so I can see what exactly just happened. I see Persian smirking from a difference but it couldn't have been the one that took out Sceptile. I return the grass type while looking across at Mega Team Rocket's boss.

"Persian sure is special," He smirks. "It's amazing what you can do with a little research and a lot of money."

I state at the normal type in slight amazement. The leaf storm only defeated Rhyperior so I need to watch out for Persian while dealing with other two ground and poison types. "Garchomp get Pikachu on your back and use earthquake!" I yell.

Nidoking and Nidoqueen are already weakened substantially so the super effective attack should finish then. They also don't have the kind of mobility to get them out of the way. Persian once again disappears as the clouds of dust begin to appear again.

The altar shakes again but at a little bit of a safer rate since it's only one attack this time. It's still doing damage however, the destroyed rubble flies all over as the shockwaves rock through the ground.

The two ground and poison types collapse from the damage. Giovanni recalls them with a simple smirk before staring at me right in the eyes. "Persian," He smirks.

A beam of ice rockets out of the dust and nails Garchomp directly. "How many attacks did Giovanni give this Pokémon?" I mutter.

Usually ice beam attacks end shortly but I realize that Persian isn't stopping. "Pikachu fight back with Thunderbolt!" I yell.

But once again it's too late...

I recall Garchomp with a small smile. Persian walks out slowly with a smirk on its face. "Oh the old time battle of cat and mouse," Giovanni laughs maniacally. "I've been waiting a long time to have a battle like this."

"Our battle ends here Giovanni," I declare. "Pikachu use Thunderbolt."

Persian has no time to react as the electricity zips into its chest. "Fight through and use night slash," Giovanni smirks.

Persian struggles but continues nonetheless. "I have a smart feline Pokémon of my own," I smirk. "One that can develop technical moves... like brick break!"

Pikachu stops and smiles at the charging Pokémon. His tail glows white before crashing down on the Pokémon's head. Persian gets crashed into the crumbled ground, this battle is over.

Giovanni turns around and walks away after returning Persian. "It's over Giovanni," I smirk.

"You did defeat me," Giovanni states. "But my goal wasn't to win."

My eyes widen as Pikachu barely gets back up on my shoulder. "Ash, there is time where it's better to know you're going to lose then trying to win," Giovanni states. "I may be strong but defeating a champion, even though it's you, at full strength wouldn't go well for me."

"But I knew that I could weaken you if we played 'battle' my way," Giovanni turns his head to smirk at me. "That way my beast can end you for good."

He disappears in the ruins and I stand there, not sure what to do. Suddenly the floodlights they must've installed, turn off. Leaving my eyesight useless.

A faint light light is coming from the direction Giovanni disappeared so my instincts are to get there as fast as possible. I run forward, carefully however since the ground is so uneven.

Then the faint light gets covered by something. I stop and look around for any sign of a beast or whatever Giovanni was talking about. Then I feel a hand grab my shoulder.

"Ash meet MewThree!" Giovanni roars into the night sky.

The lights turn back on and I come eye to eye with this strange looking Pokémon.

It's sharp pink eyes look at me with a blank look, with its long pale hands around my shoulder like a horror story would describe. It's dark and ominous body towers over me and absorbs any light trying to reach it. The dark orb on its head is glowing slightly.

It holds me tightly while staring at me. I look around for a way out but this might be it for me. "Don't worry Ash," Giovanni says with a humorous tone. "It won't attack you until we give it a command."

"We?" I question while starting to sweat a bit.

"I think there's someone better to do this," Giovanni laughs. "Delia would you like to come on out and say hi to your son."

I watch my mother walk out with a miserable look on her face. "Delia," I mutter, refusing to call her my mother.

"Ash," She starts but I turn away.

"You meant it," I argue. "I don't want to hear it."

I open one eye a bit to see her reaction. Her mouth is wide open and I can see the betrayal in her eyes, the irony. "Didn't see that coming?" Giovanni laughs, enjoying the situation. "This should be easier for you then Delia."

I lock eyes with my mother who has a sad, resentful, and hurt look on her face. "Ash I'm sorry," She mumbles and steps up.

She stares giving out the command, "MewThree... finish... him... with......umm.........night slash."

I watch the Pokémon bring one hand back and it starts to glow with a dark aura. I can see the raw power being exerted by his hand. I close my eyes as it starts to come closer...

__________________________

It wouldn't be an Ash Ketchum story without him dying...

See you Guys next chapter!

Shoutouts!

1. McludyJr has been around her for a long time. Thanks for being a longtime supporter!

2. McColl3599 has also been around my books a long time. Thanks for everything!

Fun fact- The song high hopes came on when I wrote the ending to the battle in this chapter. It made it so much better.