Chapter 18- Impending Doom

~Out of all the fighters that walk this world, the Super Fiends are said to be the strongest group, and every one of them has a lifetime of battle experience. It is said that each member of the team had trained hard to acquire incredible strengths, even the ability to control the elements. Whenever the group isn’t gathered, they travel in groups of two (the only exceptions being Aquamarine and Sky Render, both of which travel alone), and right now… I have the strongest of the two-man teams coming after me. These two are said to be unbeatable when fighting as a pair, their individual strengths are already incredible, but when together, they can bring each other to new heights. They proved that, being able to wipe out an entire city in a single swipe. Right now, we are alone and unarmed, and the rest of our pokémon are back at the centre. The fiends hold every single advantage, and we have to think fast, or else the two of us will be next. Beating them isn’t an option right now… not until we are capable of fighting back… and we have to find a way to reverse what they did to our friends…

-Ash Ketchum

(Location- Marble city streets)

“Waaa… this way!” Ash rushed through the dark alleyways

“Are you sure this’ll get us back to the pokémon centre?” Misty asked, following close behind him

“No, but I’m SURE it’ll get us away from those two freaks!” Ash replied

“So you’re not sure we’re going to the pokémon centre!”

“I just said that!”

“Then how are we supposed to save our friends?”

“I’m doing what Ebi told us to do!”

“Ebi wanted us to go to the centre, didn’t he?”

“Enough about the centre already! Yes! Okay! We’re going in that direction, but between us and there is seven blocks, and that isn’t our lucky number! We’ve gotta hurry…!” Suddenly, Ash froze, he could feel his trainer instinct kick in… DANGER!

“MORTAL REAPER!” Goth shouted as his top half appeared out of a wall and swung his dark scythe at Ash

“WA!” Ash screamed, jumping back and narrowly evading it

“Heading to the pokémon centre, eh? I won’t let you! MORTAL REAPER!” He slashed his scythe again at Misty, but it didn’t hit her. It hit Togepi.

“Togepriii!” Togepi cried as it dissolved into thin air

“What… WHA…” Misty gasped… “N-no…! TOGEPIIIII!” Misty shrieked, “YOU…” she turned to Goth, tears gathered in her eyes, “I’LL KILL YOU!”

“GET BACK!!” Ash shouted, grabbed Misty and pulled her back just in time, missing the scythe. Before she could even get close, Goth would have sliced her in half, “Stay away from him! If we’re hit by that attack, it’s all over for us!”

“LET ME GO!” Misty shook Ash off and pulled up the sledgehammer “HAAA…!” she swung it down at him. However, the Super Fiend skilfully evaded the attack, leaping out of the shadows and materializing in full.

“You actually want to fight me?” Goth smirked, tilting his head and avoiding Misty’s hammer just barely. He was toying with her!

“PI-KA-CHUUUU!” Pikachu attacked with the electricity

“HM!” Before the electricity hit, he immediately sunk back into the darkness as a shadow, and the electricity hit nothing but empty air! “It’s useless. As long as there is darkness, I am invincible…” he suddenly reappeared… behind Misty, his scythe barely touching her neck…

“HA!” Ash immediately lunged forwards to punch him, and Goth immediately reverted back to a shadow. “Grr…!” Ash growled, but relieved as well. Though he had missed, he kept Goth from finishing Misty off… “Your defence is perfect… but as long as you’re a shadow, you can’t harm us.” Ash said, as Goth materialized once more, “I’ve found the chink in your armour.”

“Oh really?! Do enlighten me! MORTAL…”

BAM!

“AGH!” Goth stumbled back when Ash punched him square in the face. Taking that opportunity, Pikachu shot off the ground and smacked the dark Super Fiend with Skull Bash, and then Misty slammed the side of his head with her hammer!

“You can’t attack and defend at the same time” said Ash, crossing his arms

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO TOGEPI?!” Misty shouted “TELL ME RIGHT NOW!” with that, she charged forwards, whirling her large hammer through the air…

“TWIN DREAM!” Twin Dreamer shot his attack from behind, hitting the ground between Misty and Goth, and causing her to fly back.

“And I seem to have found a rather large chink in YOUR armour, Ketchum” Said Goth, standing up, as if he hadn’t been hit at all. “The girl can’t control her emotions. She will be nothing but a burden. If you leave her behind, you’ll have a much greater chance of survival” he smirked as Twin Dreamer landed next to him, “Unlike you, me and my team-mate know how to play together. We’re even linked in the minds, if I can see you, TD will pick up and come right away”

“Shut up!” Twin Dreamer slapped Goth on the back of the head, “I told you to stop calling me by that name!”

“You’re bringing that up right now, TD?” Goth looked at him

“Now you’re just doing it to annoy me!” Twin Dreamer said angrily. He REALLY hated being called by his initials… no surprise, ‘TeeDee’ does sound pretty stupid…

While Goth and Twin Dreamer were bickering, Ash got up, grabbed Misty by the arm and ran right past them. “Idiots” Said Ash, reaching into his pockets as he ran. Even though he didn’t have the QuickSilver, he still kept a few nitro balls in his pockets, just in case he needed them. He rolled it across the ground over to Goth’s and Twin Dreamer’s feet, and he grabbed Mist’s arm and ran

The nitro ball touched Goth’s foot, “Hmm?” he looked down “What’s this?”

Twin Dreamer sweatdropped, “Hey, isn’t that a nitro…”

KABOOM!

“AAAARGH!!” Both Goth and Twin Dreamer were sent flying in different directions. “Yes. It was” Goth groaned and got up…

Ash wanted to get to the pokémon centre immediately, but Misty was slowing him down. “Come on Misty! We have to hurry!”

“I’m not going anywhere” she answered and held out the sledgehammer, “I am staying right here!”

“But they’ll come and get you!” Said Ash

“Let them come! That damn Goth! You saw what he did to Togepi! I want revenge!” Misty was in tears

Ash started to get annoyed, but he understood how she felt. After all, how would he react if the same thing had happened to Pikachu? He had to comfort her somehow “Listen Misty, there’s got to be a better solution than this! Now I may not be the same voice of reason as Ebi, but I know that killing that dead-looking guy isn’t the answer! And plus, even if you were to run right up to those two fiends and attacked them, Goth is far stronger! You won’t stand a chance against him, and the same thing will happen to you as it did to our friends! It’s not worth it if you sacrifice yourself without even accomplishing anything! We can’t win like this! We have to get to the pokémon centre to get our pokémon! I promise you, I’ll do what it takes, anything to get Togepi back for you!” He looked at her straight in the eye

Misty was quite shocked at what Ash said, but he was right “You’re right” Misty wiped some tears out of her eyes and straightened up, “I’m sorry Ash, and you are right! It’s not the time to be crying! Thank you…” she gave Ash a hug, then she let go and ran to the centre

“Whoa…” Ash’s eyes were wide open. He nearly fainted from the sudden turn of emotion, but he shook it off and ran to catch up. Ash and Misty started sprinting. They reached the pokémon centre. Despite the power out, the centre had its own emergency power source, and the automatic doors slid open. “You go get the pokémon, I’ll get the weapons!” he said, and Misty nodded.

Ash ran into the dark bedrooms, pulling out the shining sphere and using it to illuminate the area. After a bit of quick searching, he found both the fully repaired QuickSilver as well as Ebi’s tools. Taking the tools and doing what he saw Ebi do once, he opened it up and placed shining sphere inside. “All right!” he smirked as he shut the weapon, then attaching it to his arm. “Locked and loaded! Now we can fight! You ready Pikachu?”

“Pika!” Pikachu’s cheeks sparked

“All right!” they ran into the lobby, and Misty had all the pokéballs ready. “Thanks Misty!” he grabbed his pokéballs and placed them on his pokébelt, while Misty got her pokéballs ready

“Time to kick some Super Fiend butt!” She smirked, “Here they come!”

“TWIN DREAM!”

CRASH!

The doors were blown open with Twin Dreamer’s attack, “Well, well… so this is where you were headed?”

SMASH!

Goth smashed through the skylight and jumped through, landing on the counter, “You think getting your pokémon will save you now?”

Ash smirked “Yep, and now we’re more than a match for you, ‘TeeDee’!”

“GR…” Twin Dreamer growled, a nerve became apparent on the side of his head, “DON’T CALL ME THAT! TWIN DREAM!” he shot the psychic beam

“HM!!” Ash quickly evaded the attack… and it continued to fly, towards Goth!

“AH!” Goth barely had enough time to move. The beam grazed the side of his face

“PI-KA-CHUUU!” Pikachu jumped into the air and shocked Twin Dreamer

“EVERYBODY! GOOO!” Ash released all his pokémon, “ATTACK!!!”

The pokémon launched their attacks and Ash even shot some nitro balls for extra explosion. The attack sent Twin Dreamer crashing through the entrance and slamming into the wall on the other side of the road. Ash, Misty and all the pokémon turned to Goth

“Hmm… this isn’t a good place to fight.” He growled, there was light in the building, and it was interfering with his abilities. Quickly he moved through the doors and back into the streets.

“I agree” said Ash as he, Misty and all the pokémon ran through the doorways, “Wouldn’t want to damage to the pokémon centre either!”

“MORTAL REAPER!” Goth darted forwards with his attack

“ICE PILLAR!” Ash and Misty shouted at the same time. All the water pokémon fired the attack, and Politoed froze it with ice beam. The pillar slammed into Goth in the stomach, crushing him against the wall

“AH…” Goth gasped, his eyes opened wide and his mouth hung open. The pillar fell to the ground, and so did he, gasping desperately…

“Your attack may be dangerous, but it’s useless if you can’t touch us!” Said Misty, “We won’t let you get close enough to use it! Now either you bring back Togepi and our friends, or we do that all over again!”

Goth groaned and got up. He was a warrior, and he would not be taken down by one attack. “And why should I be afraid of that?”

“ICE PILLAR!” Misty shouted

“HYAAA!” in the blink of an eye, Goth cut the pillar into pieces

“TWIN DREAM!” Twin Dreamer shot a mind burn version of the attack

“CAPTURE!” Ash spun around and hit the Twin Dream with an element-capture ball. The ball caught the attack and changed into a silvery colour, “Thanks for the gift! Here’s one for you!” Ash aimed his QuickSilver arm and shot the nitro ball at Twin Dreamer. When he flew to the side to evade it, Pidgeot and Noctowl attacked!

“MORTAL REA…” Goth had barely begun his mortal reaper attack when Bulbasaur tackled him in the stomach, “AH…!” he gasped, feeling the impact in his already-injured stomach…

“BAY BAAAY!” Bayleef’s vines shot forwards and pulled the scythe out of Goth’s hands, and throwing it into Ash’s

“Without your weapon, you’re helpless” said Ash, clutching the scythe

“Maybe if we BREAK it, would that bring our friends back, hmm?” Misty smiled

“Go ahead…” Goth got back up. “That scythe is the only way to bring them back. Break it, and they’ll be trapped forever!”

“All right!” Ash smirked, dropping it. “I had no intentions of breaking it, I just wanted to find out whether it’s possible to get our friends back, and you just answered our question!” he and Misty smiled, and Goth scowled… they had tricked him!

“Now what we know we can get them back…!” She charged forwards swinging her sledgehammer through the air, with her pokémon behind her “All we need to do now is CONVINCE you to bring them back!”

“PSYCHIC STUN!” Twin Dreamer shot the stunner attack, Pidgeot and Noctowl dropped to the ground, unable to move. “TWIN DREAM!” He fired another beam at Misty and her pokémon

“AGH!” She fell to the ground

“MISTY!” Ash screamed, feeling his blood begin to boil. Even though Misty wasn’t hurt all that bad, he was still enraged that Twin Dreamer attacked her

“Heh-Heh!” Goth laughed as he dashed forwards and grabbed his scythe

“TWIN DREAM!” Twin Dreamer shot another impact beam at Misty

BANG!

Ash growled. He had jumped in front of Misty and smacked the spiralling beam out of the air with his right arm.

“MORTAL REAPER!” Goth attacked with his glowing scythe, but Ash deflected it with his arm and slammed Goth with the other “Urgh!” Goth was thrown back by Ash’s impressive display of strength, “Why you…” he growled. That boy… the moment one of his friends was attacked, he seemed to have gotten stronger… “Hm?” Goth blinked. Ash was ignoring them as he walked over to Misty and helped her up

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah”

“Hmm…” Ash glared at the fiends, “First they fiends attack our friends, then Togepi, now they attack you” Said Ash. Misty blinked as Ash faced the two fiends. Goth and Twin Dreamer. “Haven’t you done enough damage all ready?!” at that statement, the two of them began laughing, “What’s so funny?!”

“You! That’s what” said Twin Dreamer, “Who do you think you are, acting like some sort of hero, when you have no idea what’s really going on!”

“You’re so ignorant, thinking we’re just common villains, attacking people for no reason. You just don’t see the ‘big picture’!” said Goth. “Those who stand against Sky Render… stand for the destruction of this world!”

“Grr…” Ash had no idea what those two were talking about… nor did he remotely care. These people… they needed to be punished… and the QuickSilver on his right arm started to glow gold…

“Ah…?!” Both Goth and Twin Dreamer’s eyes opened wide, catching a glimpse of the golden glow. “Is… is that…?!” suddenly, the golden glow faded, and they sighed in relief. “No way, we were imagining it… it couldn’t possibly be…”

“For a second I actually thought we had something to worry about” said Goth

“I’d rethink that if I were you! ATTACK!” Ash shouted. Immediately the pokémon surrounded Twin Dreamer and Goth and fired their attacks

“HM!” The two Super Fiends skilfully moved, evading the attacks,

“TWIN DREAM!”

“MORTAL REAPER!”

Quickly, all the pokémon moved and evaded the attacks! “HYDROTHUNDER!”

“TWIN DREAM!” The two powerful attacks ricocheted off each other. “Heh! You’re good, but I’m better! TWIN DREAM!” Twin Dreamer shot another Twin Dream, but Charizard smacked it out of the air with his wing, “Damn…! I guess a solid beam is ineffective when met by an equal or greater force…” he growled, “They may be stronger physically… but how will you do if your minds are weaker?”

“Um… wa?” Ash stared at him

“MIND BURN!” he fired a huge wave of psychic energy…

“WAAAAAAAA!” Ash and Misty, as well as all the pokémon fell to the ground, their hands held tightly on their heads, which felt like they were about to explode…

“GRRR… MUST… FIGHT IT!” Ash got up, but his head was hurting too much. He had never had any trouble with getting hit on the head because of his thick skull, but the mind burn was attacking it from the inside. “I-I CAN’T!” Ash fell to his knees

Misty was also in agony, there wasn’t a pokémon who could handle this attack. Or maybe there was… “HMMF!” She slowly reached for the pokéball, struggling not to faint, “Agh… PSYDUCK! GOOOOO!”

The ball opened up, and out came Psyduck. “A Psyduck eh?” Twin Dreamer laughed, “Trying to use that headache thing against me? Let me remind you I have the most powerful mind in the world, and no pokémon can match! MIND BURN!” All of the energy he unleashed on everyone halted as he shot it at Psyduck.

“PSYYAAAIIIIE!” Psyduck screamed as the Twin Dream hit him…

Misty managed to grin “Now that Psyduck’s got a headache, you just lost!”

“Psy…” Psyduck groaned and fainted

“eep.” Misty sweatdropped

“You’re not the first to try and use that trick against me.” Said Twin Dreamer, “My mind is simply too powerful to be matched by mere pokémon”

“Let’s end this… MORTAL… what?” Goth stopped in his tracks as Psyduck got up

“Psyduck?” Misty looked at the pokémon “That’s strange…” She was right. Usually when Psyduck gets a splitting headache, his eyes would glow blue and he’d be radiating with some sort of energy, but not this time.

“I don’t know what he’s trying to pull, but I’m in a hurry! Let’s finish this! Twin… AH!” Twin Dreamer stopped in his tracks as he stared in horror at Psyduck, “S… such… power…!” he gasped, he could sense a tremendous psychic force coming from the pokémon… even stronger than him!!! “No! It can’t be…!”

“What’s going on? It’s just a Psyduck. You can handle it easily!” Said Goth

“No… this… this isn’t a regular Psyduck we’re dealing with! I think by using my powers to try and destroy his mind, I’ve actually helped him unlock his TRUE powers!” Twin Dreamer was trembling

“What?”

“That Psyduck… it’s the legendary Amnesia Psyduck!” Twin Dreamer shouted, pointing at Psyduck, “This pokémon’s slow and almost never knows its attacks, because it is always under the effects of Amnesia! And because of this, when its powers are activated, nothing can compete with it!”

AMNESIA! A pokémon will forget all of its attacks, as well as everything and not move for one turn. It will then regain its memory and come back to fighting, with its attacks stronger than before! ‘Beginner’s luck’ if you will…

Twin Dreamer was right. As if a pokémon had used amnesia, Psyduck seemed to have snapped back to attention. Psyduck’s eyes were glowing a fiery blue, and a frightful blue Aura surrounded his body, as well as its terrifying psychic power

“No… way…!” Goth stepped back nervously

“PSYYYYYYYYY!” Psyduck stretched his hands forwards. Psyduck’s energy exploded in the direction of the two Super Fiends. Windows all over the city shattered, the ground trembled and buildings shook. This was the Amnesia Psyduck’s true power. The attack was too strong. Twin Dreamer and Goth got hurt and collapsed… “Duck…” Psyduck sighed, closing his eyes.

“Psyduck… Psyduck!” Misty got up and picked up her pokémon, hugging it tightly, “I’m so proud of you! You are really special! Yeah! That’s right! Imagine, you! You’re the legendary Amnesia Psyduck! I never thought it was possible! And I’m the Amnesia Psyduck’s trainer! That is like totally SOOOOOOO COOOOOL!” She was jumping around with Psyduck in her arms

“Whoa… calm down Misty!” said Ash, “You’re starting to act like your sisters!” at those words, Misty immediately stopped jumping around and stuff

“Ugh… agh…” in the distance, Goth and Twin Dreamer groaned

“Ga… I can’t believe it! I’ve been bested by another psychic!”

“I… can’t move…” Goth struggled to get up, he held on to his scythe to support him

“We can’t… we can’t give up! We can’t lose! Not like this!” Twin Dreamer tried to stand, but fell to the ground

“Looks like we win!” Ash and Misty cheered

“So this is how it is… we’ve lost…” Goth gave up and dropped to the ground

“Giving up so soon?” A voice called in the distance

“Huh? WAAAAK!!!” Ash yelled as something white, and VERY fast darted forwards, slamming him to the ground with incredible strength. Whatever it was, it was fast! “Ow…” Ash groaned and watched it run and jump high into the air to the top of a three-story building. It stood still enough for Ash and Misty to see clearly what, or who it was. They both froze at who they saw on top of the roof “WAAA! IT’S S… SKY RENDER!”

Sky Render laughed, “I noticed you two were losing” he called down to Goth and Twin Dreamer, “I’m just gonna even the odds up a bit!” He jumped down

SMACK!

“CHROAR!” Charizard’s head was slammed to the ground as Sky Render stomped down on his head as he jumped from the building

“PIKACHUUUU!” Pikachu screamed, releasing a blast of lightning…

“HM!” Sky Render drew his sword and swung, breaking the lightning apart. His swing was so strong, the gust of air it created threw Pikachu back, even from his distance! “You want to fight me?” Sky Render asked, looking around and seeing the pokémon that surrounded him. Taking a stance, he clutched his katana… “HMM!!!”

“AH…!” Ash gasped at what he saw next. Before any of the pokémon could even move, Sky Render had darted through their numbers and sheathed his sword. Every single one of them stood still, but collapsed to the ground, and they weren’t moving. “No… th… that’s impossible…” Ash shook his head… he couldn’t believe it…

“I used the flat side of the blade, they will survive” Sky Render spoke, looking back at the pokémon. The gap in strength between him and those pokémon was simply too great… they probably didn’t even know what hit them. “HMM!” he kicked off the ground and jumped high into the air, landing on top of a three-story building. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not gonna fight this battle for you! I was just helping a little!” Sky Render looked at the fallen Goth and Twin Dreamer.

“A little… right…” Misty was as shocked as Ash at Sky Render’s power. Truly… they were no match for him…

“You have done well to defeat my two subordinates, Ash… but that was only practice. Now the real test begins…” Once again, Sky Render drew his katana, the SkyFall… and held it over his head. “Here’s something you may be familiar with…” as he spoke, a golden glow began to surround his weapon…

“AH…!” Ash gasped, his jaw dropped and his eyes opened wide in shock, “N… no… it can’t be… that’s impossible…!” he gasped, stepping back, shaking his head… “It… IT JUST CAN’T BE POSSIBLE!” he screamed. That light… it was the Power of One!!!

“You aren’t the only Chosen One here, Ash Ketchum!” Sky Render spoke. As he did this, both Goth and Twin Dreamer got up, their bodies started to glow with the golden light. The golden glows surrounding their bodies changed colours. On Twin Dreamer, there was a silver glow surrounding his body. On Goth was a black glow.

“I… can’t believe it! The power… THE POWER!”

“So this is the Power of One… thank you Sky Render!”

“HAAAAAAA!” Both Twin Dreamer and Goth howled as the glows flashed bright and their bodies were invisible in the coloured light for a second. Finally the glow disappeared, and they stood there, fully healed and energized, but they really weren’t THEY any more.

Twin Dreamer stood there, dressed in a silver outfit along with a flowing cape. Hanging from his neck like a pendant was a crystal ball. On his belt was a deck of Tarot Cards. He looked down at his hands, and then at his body, and smiled unpleasantly. He jumped into the air and flew, much higher and faster than before. He started teleporting from here to there, and then fired a huge psychic beam into the air. He then teleported back to his original location and finally spoke up “All this energy, I’ve never felt this power before…” He laughed and jumped into the air, “My psychic power has been enhanced! You are now looking at the all-powerful… GRAND DREAMER!” He smiled evilly and looked at Psyduck, “HAA!” he unleashed the mind burning wave. Even with his legendary psychic strength, Psyduck wasn’t strong enough. Psyduck screamed in agony before falling to the ground, defeated…

Super Fiend	Weapons	Attacks	Fighter Class	Stats
Grand Dreamer	Psychic Power Tarot Cards	Grand Dream Mind Breaker Psychic Stun Grand Healer	Spell caster Psychic Element Rank A	Strength- Low Attack Power- Superhuman Speed- High Fighting Skills- Average Toughness- Average Endurance- Average Intelligence- Superhuman Mind Power- Legendary Determination- High

Goth was also different. He now had a black cape, and over his black outfit, and wore bones over his arms and legs and rib cage around his torso like armour. He then looked at his supercharged scythe with a blade nearly twice the size of before. Hanging from his belt was a new weapon, the Blood Whip, which was a black whip, but wet with blood. His eyes glowed red and he no longer had teeth. Instead he had fangs, and his nails were sharp talons, like a vampire. He looked up at Ash and Misty and gave them a chilling smile, making both Ash and Misty tremble…

CRACK!

“WA!” Both Ash and Misty exclaimed

Goth had punched into the ground, smashing through the concrete easily, “Superhuman strength… an immortal body… the powers of the vampire… I have gained it all. Tremble in fear… FOR I AM CHAOS REAPER!”

Super Fiend	Weapons	Attacks	Fighter Class	Stats
Chaos Reaper	Demon Scythe Blood Whip Fangs & Claws	Mortal Reaper Blood Whip Blood Fang Blood slash Lurking Death	Vampire Warrior Dark Element Rank S	Strength- Superhuman Attack Power- Superhuman Speed- Very High Fighting Skills- Superhuman Toughness- Legendary Intelligence- High Mind Power- Very High Determination- Very High

Ash and Misty stepped back nervously. These Super Fiends… the power radiating form them… was terrifying! Both Ash and Misty gasped as the fiends turned their gazes to the two of them, smiling wickedly… “RETURN!” Ash and Misty called the unconscious pokémon into their pokéballs. After calling them back, the two turned around and ran as fast as they could.

Grand Dreamer turned to face Sky Render “By the way, how long will the transformations last?”

“As long as it will take, until the fight is over, when either Ash or you are beaten. When it goes out, it’ll only come back if I morph you” Sky Render crossed his arms, “But don’t think that because of this power you’re invincible!”

“I seriously doubt that…” Chaos Reaper smirked, “Let’s go!”

(Meanwhile)

“Keep running!” Ash and Misty ran as fast as they could through a dark alleyway. “Bad enough there’s that power out and the soul harvest, now we’ve gotta fight super psychics and vampires?! What’s up with that? I only wanted to become a pokémon trainer for pokémon battles…! AH!” he and Misty suddenly froze, when they found themselves faced-to-face with Sky Render! “Grr…!” Ash growled, throwing his fear aside… “HAAA!!!!”

WHAM!

“Don’t even try it” Said Sky Render, as Ash flew to the side. Before Ash could even hit him, he had swung the wooden sword.

“WHY YOU…! TAKE THIS!” Misty swung the sledgehammer down on him… “Ah!” she gasped in surprise, as the Super Fiend raised the wooden sword over his head and blocked, without even looking back. Despite the strength of the swing, Sky’s arms didn’t even budge… “AHHH!” she screamed when Sky Render pushed his arms upward, causing her to fall back.

“I’m not here to fight you, I just want to talk” Sky Render spoke seriously, facing the two of them. “I’m a sportsman, and I just thought I’d give you a fighting chance…”

“Yeah right! Your definition of ‘a little help’ was completely decimating all my pokémon! Why should we trust you?” Ash growled

“Because you will die if you don’t” Sky Render crossed his arms, “The two of us… we are both Chosen Ones… we both wield the Power of One. However, the difference between us is you have no idea how to even use this power.” He spoke, “The Power of One is an incredible force, and not only grants a Chosen One with godlike strength, but you can also focus it through almost anything, be it a weapon, a pokémon, or even people… like I did back there. But there’s more…” Sky took a deep breath, “When bathed in the light of this power, normal people grow tremendously in strength, so much their bodies can’t handle it… and the only way for them to survive is to change into a form that can… to evolve if you will. The Chosen Ones themselves however… we do not transform, we remain as we are. Though it may seem like a raw deal, it’s a good thing, because as those two transformed into stronger classes and all their strengths have been multiplied, and so have their weaknesses”

“What kind of weaknesses?” Ash asked suspiciously

“Whose side are you on?” Asked Misty, “First you attack us and make our opponents even worse, then you come here and start giving advice on how to beat them?”

“I have my reasons” Sky Render answered simply, “To face these two as you are, it is simply suicide. Your only hope is to draw out the power of one Ash… but you don’t even know how.” his eyes moved to face him, “That is the reason I had these two attack you… a life threatening situation may force you to release the power”

“WHAT?!” Ash screamed out in fury at what he said… everything that’s happened… his friends being wiped off the face of the earth, the two Fiends attacking him with killing intent… all just for some twisted experiment?! “RHAAAA!” Ash lunged at him… “AH!” he exclaimed as Sky Render’s leg shot up, kicking him in the chest and slamming him into the wall, “Ungh…!” Ash groaned. That kick was so strong…! “AH…” Ash gasped, as he suddenly felt the cold blade of a sword press against his neck.

“ASH!” Misty screamed

“The two of us may be Chosen Ones… but compared to me, you’re just a baby who can’t even walk. You are no closer to defeating me than you are stopping the sun from rising.” Sky Render spoke in a cold tone. His glare was terrifying… even when he lowered his sword, Ash couldn’t move… “Can’t you see the difference between us?!” he spoke louder… as a golden glow surrounded him…

“…!!!” Ash’s eyes opened wide, and Misty began to tremble, when Sky Render stood there, his power fully activated. He could feel it… the pressure simply from standing around him… it was so intense, he couldn’t even breathe…! It was nothing like when Ash wielded it…! There wasn’t any comparison between their levels!

“Hm…” Sky Render closed his eyes, and the power faded away. Sheathing his sword, he turned around and began walking away. “Don’t ever stand against me, because I will cut off your head…” he spoke harshly. “If you can draw out the power however, you may stand a chance against those two.” And with that, he left

“He’s gone” Said Misty

“Hm…” Ash looked down at his arm. “The Power of One… I really have no idea how to activate it. Last time it came up, it just happened without me even realizing it…” he growled… he wasn’t sure if he could rely on it to win. “He also mentioned something else, about those two having weaknesses… I wonder, what could they be?”

In the background, they heard some crashing and hysterical laugher, “Well whatever they are, you’d better find out fast!” She and Ash began to run, in the opposite direction of the laughter

Things keep getting worse. How can Ash and Misty hope to stand up to such fearsome opponents? Can they figure out how to defeat the two Fiends? And what exactly is Sky Render’s purpose? Find out next time on PUA!

►TO BE CONTINUED