In a Black World —
Because the bus had crashed off the cliff, Ash and the others had to brave the wind and rain to go to Clear Cliff. Realistically, they couldn't do much. But… if one of those people had psychic powers, that would be different.
When the group reached the site of the crash, the storm had weakened considerably. The bus was quietly wedged in the trees below the cliff. The people inside didn't dare to move or scream, afraid any shift might snap the branches and send them plummeting.
Seeing this, Sabrina directly lit up with psychic energy and lifted the bus back up! With her Elite Four–level psychic power, this little task was effortless.
Behind Sabrina, the woman named Domino wore a slightly strange expression. She watched Sabrina use her powers, then quietly took out a photo to compare. I never expected… I'd meet the person Team Rocket once tried to recruit here! Might as well take her down as part of the plan.
While Domino was thinking this, Ash suddenly glanced back at her. Domino instantly put the photo away. Seeing Domino's smiling face, Ash turned his head back leisurely, carefully holding an umbrella for Sabrina and Misty. As for Brock? He was busy holding an umbrella for Luna.
The reason Ash had looked back was that he'd sensed a trace of nearly undetectable malice. This malice wasn't directed at him, but at Sabrina! But after looking at Domino, he thought he might have been mistaken. How could someone they'd just met on a cliff harbor malice toward Sabrina? Besides, Sabrina didn't know Domino at all. If she'd seen her before, a psychic wouldn't forget.
Amidst the astonishment of Luna and Rina, Sabrina successfully lifted the bus. The people inside, along with Luna, were all grateful to Sabrina, with many offering to pay her as thanks! Hearing this, Sabrina instantly perked up. For those offering payment, she unceremoniously left them her bank account number. After traveling all this way, she'd naturally learned that money was very important! Especially since Ash was often short of funds! And although she was the Saffron City Gym Leader, her Pokémon were high-level and required more expensive, nutritious food! So… the more money, the better!
After this little episode, the bus decided to take another route. Continuing in this terrible weather was clearly unwise. Everyone rode the bus back to the base of the mountain to wait for the storm to pass.
However… after everyone returned to the foot of the mountain, Rina discovered that Domino, who had come with them, was missing! Ash and the others thought Domino might have gotten lost accidentally, but she'd been right next to them when they boarded the bus—how could she get lost? Ash subconsciously expanded his Aura power. Not only did he locate Domino, but also… a swarm of airships!
"There's a situation. Wait for me here, guys. Pikachu, let's go!"
"Pika!"
With that, Ash jumped out of the bus, converted his Aura power into psychic energy, and quickly took off. Misty and the other two hadn't even reacted before Ash vanished from their sight.
"This… what's going on?" Brock looked bewildered.
"I don't know. But Ash must have his reasons. Let's wait for him here," Sabrina said, though she looked somewhat worriedly at the rain-obscured sky. She had a feeling… something bad was about to happen.
High in the sky, invisible from the ground, a fleet of airships advanced in an orderly formation. A man with his back turned looked seriously at the scene outside and asked a woman beside him, "How much longer?"
"Almost there!"
Hearing this, the man stroked the Persian at his feet, and a hint of expression finally appeared on his cold face—excitement.
"Mewtwo, Mewtwo… Although we haven't found your whereabouts, the clone Pokémon you created with our Team Rocket technology can't escape our eyes! To think you put the clones here to let them live… I'd like to see if you show up or not when we take these clones away!"
Needless to say, this man's true identity was naturally the leader of Team Rocket—Giovanni! Their purpose in coming here was also for Mewtwo! They hadn't detected Mewtwo itself, but… they had found the Pokémon Mewtwo had cloned using their technology! Since Mewtwo had placed them here to live freely, that meant these Pokémon held a place in Mewtwo's heart! Just capture these Pokémon and leave a message from Team Rocket—no need to worry about finding Mewtwo! And… regarding Mirror Lake inside Clear Cliff, Giovanni had also sent people to investigate. It was said the lake's water contained incredible life energy. He'd see if it was true. If so… it would definitely be a great help for Team Rocket's research!
[Lance]: Tsk, as expected, this bastard still has his eyes on Clear Cliff!
[Giovanni]: Who are you calling a bastard? There's nothing Team Rocket can't obtain if we set our minds to it!
[Lance]: Bastard, your uncle! Just you wait, Sakaki! I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life in prison!
[Giovanni]: Come and get me! If you can find me, I'll call you uncle!
[Mewtwo]: I can find you. Also, you said Team Rocket never fails to obtain what it wants, but you didn't capture me in this Clear Cliff operation. I erased your memory.
[Mewtwo]: If not for this broadcast, you wouldn't even remember who I am for the rest of your life. No, you still can't remember now.
[Giovanni]: ...
Damn! Who taught Mewtwo to talk like that? And what it said… wasn't wrong at all! A Psychic-type second-tier Legendary… no, it might be first-tier now. For a first-tier Psychic Legendary to find him alone wouldn't be difficult at all! Damn it! Give back his simple, powerful Mewtwo!
[Lorelei]: Well said! Giovanni, acting up again?
[Cynthia]: Hehe, watching the Team Rocket boss get shut down is quite interesting. Also… Black Ash in the video is really about to clash with Giovanni! Does he know Giovanni is the Team Rocket boss?
[Bruno]: Yes, they met when he took Mewtwo. Then Giovanni directly abandoned the Viridian Gym, so Black Ash never met Giovanni again.
[Lance]: Tsk, new grudges and old ones combined this time! Mewtwo's grudge, his own grudge—they must be settled now!
[Giovanni]: Hmph, a mere brat. This time, I have the entire Team Rocket army. No matter how powerful the brat is, can he destroy the whole Team Rocket fleet?
[Caitlin]: I'm afraid you don't know, so let me remind you: Ash is now equivalent to a second-tier Legendary capable of unleashing all-type attacks. So… in front of a second-tier Legendary, your fleet is just cannon fodder, no matter how many you have.
[Koga]: Exactly! Just learn from Black Ash's lesson!
[Giovanni]: ...
Damn, there seems to be no way to refute that… Would his other-world self really be defeated by Black Ash?
In a Black World —
Ash used his psychic powers and reached the sky in just minutes, even landing on one of Team Rocket's largest airships. Looking at the familiar 'R' insignia around him, there was no doubt—this was the Team Rocket army! But… why was the Team Rocket army here? Moreover, Ash also sensed a familiar Aura signature on this largest ship! That Aura… was exactly like the person from the Viridian Gym back then! Although Mewtwo had already revealed that man's true identity, meeting him again still gave Ash complex feelings. After all, that person was the Trainer who handed him his first defeat…
His heart pounding, Ash quietly converted his Aura power to a Steel attribute, opened a small hole in the airship, and slipped inside. Then, using Hypnosis, he put all the Team Rocket grunts who saw him to sleep. The entire process flowed smoothly. By now, he could practically be considered an all-rounder, Legendary-tier Pokémon in human form. After gaining the power of mutable Aura, Ash naturally hadn't been idle, learning relevant skills from various Pokémon. In other words… he was now a humanoid Pokémon that could breathe fire and spit water! (Though he could before…)
When Ash walked into the control room and saw the familiar back of the man stroking his Persian, he called out the man's name in a trembling voice. "Giovanni… Uncle…"
Hearing the noise behind him, Giovanni instantly stood and turned around, finding the young man who had left a deep impression on him had somehow appeared on this airship! The woman in a secretary's uniform and glasses beside him also showed a terrified expression. "Who are you?! How did you get in?!" the woman questioned Ash. You had to understand—this was hundreds of meters in the air! And they were surrounded by the Team Rocket fleet. Any flying object approaching would be detected from far away! Yet, despite such tight defenses, Ash had still sneaked in! This was why the woman, Domino, was terrified.
"Alright, no need to hide it. Ash from Pallet Town!"
"Uncle Giovanni, you really are the leader of Team Rocket! It's hard to imagine… The Trainer from the Viridian Gym, who trained a Beedrill to the peak, is actually the leader of Team Rocket!"
From Ash's words, Giovanni finally recovered from his shock. "It's the brat who fought me at the Viridian Gym before…"
"From what you're saying, you seem to have known I'm Team Rocket's leader! Can you tell me how you knew?"
Ash clenched his fists, his expression turning cold. "Tell me why you're here, and I'll tell you how I knew you were Team Rocket's leader!"
Giovanni shook his head with a sneer. "How naïve, brat. This world isn't as simple as you think. What makes you think you can make an equivalent exchange with me? Alright, enough small talk. Will you talk or not? If not…"
Before he finished, Giovanni pressed a button on his chair. Four small pillars instantly appeared around Ash and Pikachu, trapping them inside and releasing an extremely powerful electric current! The meaning was self-evident: talk or stay here forever! Of course, even if Ash talked, Giovanni might not let them go. He was still carrying out an important plan. Although he was optimistic about the teen before him, he had to admit their positions were opposed. The more optimistic he was about this teen, the more he couldn't let him go!
"You said it before, right? You escaped with your life last time. I never expected you'd walk right into the trap again today! Also, don't bother trying to break out of this electric cage. This was a little gift I prepared for Mewtwo! But I didn't expect the Aura Guardian to use it first. Heh."
Hearing this, Ash's pupils instantly contracted! He didn't care that his identity as an Aura Guardian had been seen through. Instead, he focused on a key word Giovanni said… "Mewtwo… You're here for Mewtwo?!" It's impossible. Ash didn't say this out loud. Right now, Mewtwo was training with Lugia and was still in the Orange Archipelago. Every day, it would communicate with him about its training through the Master Ball, even chatting about interesting things from the ocean floor. So… Mewtwo definitely couldn't be here!
However, after hearing Ash's words, the expression on Giovanni's face, which had been holding a Griseous Orb, finally changed. "You… know Mewtwo?" Besides shock, the Team Rocket leader's face showed surprise! He thought this time he could only take a few useless hostages, plus get that Mirror Lake water whose usefulness was unknown. He never expected… such a surprise here!
"Start talking. About Mewtwo's information. If I'm satisfied, maybe I'll let you live again."
Hearing this, Ash laughed—a laugh of anger. "I said, Giovanni, are you mistaken?" This time, Ash didn't add "Uncle," because before meeting Giovanni, he'd still held a sliver of hope. Hoping… that Giovanni wasn't as bad as he thought. After all, he was the one who'd bred a Beedrill to Champion-level! Paired with the looting and burning Team Rocket… it seemed mismatched no matter how you looked! However, since Giovanni had released this electric cage to trap him, Ash's last remaining hope vanished. Truly… the wicked are wicked!
"You think you have me cornered?"
"Or what?"
"Hmph."
Ash smiled sarcastically and instantly entered an Aura synchronization state with Pikachu! Immediately after, Pikachu's tail was quickly coated with a metallic color—Iron Tail!
Whoosh—
The Iron Tail, which seemed capable of splitting space, struck the electric current, producing only a small sound as if all its force had been absorbed.
"It's useless. This was made for Mewtwo—"
Before Giovanni finished, Ash clenched a fist coated with a layer of silver energy and slammed it out! The point of impact was almost exactly the same as where Pikachu's Iron Tail had struck!
Whoosh—!
Thud!!
BOOM!!
Within three seconds, the current trapping Ash made three different sounds in succession, then burst apart before Giovanni's constricted pupils!
Pierce the surface at a single point, shatter all limitations with pure force!
The cage Giovanni claimed could trap Mewtwo… was directly smashed by one boy and one mouse!
Ash flexed his wrist and shook his hand casually, a smile on his face that wasn't gentle at all, but icy cold.
"You said… this was made for Mewtwo?"
[Lance]: Good, good, good! Awesome! That's the way to deliver a slap in the face!
[Caitlin]: Black Ash said, I heard you wanted to play dirty? Never seen such an outrageous request!
[Bruno]: Alright, that's how you do it! Showdown! My Black Ash is an all-powerful Legendary!
[Mewtwo]: Giovanni miscalculated! The cage originally meant to trap Psychic-types could actually deal with beings possessing Aura power.
[Mewtwo]: But he didn't expect Black Ash's Aura power could convert attributes. When both Pikachu and Ash used powerful Steel-type energy, that kind of Psychic-limiting device was useless…
All that can be said is… Giovanni's preparation wasn't thorough enough, or the limits of human technology are just that. You can create tools to deal with second-tier Legendaries, but they can only target specific types. Once the Legendary you're dealing with doesn't match the tool's design… this is what happens, as seen .
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