Ash Ketchum: Superman, chapter 11

Giovanni scowled in his seat in the Rocket Jet. The jet could fly close to the speed of sound, so his trip to the Rocket headquarters would only take less than 10 minutes. But he was seething because Superman, the one who had been thwarting his plans; the one who tried to stop the attack; the one who represented everything Giovanni hated: truth, justice, hope, idealism, was revealed to none other than Ash Ketchum. The prospect infuriated him to no end. He had thought Ash was his son, and instead he was his sworn enemy. He cursed his luck, but vowed to continue his plan to take over the world. His armies were still prepared to march on the world capitals and it would only be a matter of time before—

“Boss Giovanni!” Said the pilot.

“What is it?”

“There seems to be something approaching us from our 6!” What!?

“What is it!?”

“I’m checking, sir!” He said. “It’s coming in fast, though! It might catch us soon!”

“Well then, try to stop it!” Giovanni yelled. “If it’s Superman, I want him stalled, understand?”

“Y-y-y-yes, sir!” The pilot then switched the frequency to the Rocket fighters that were escorting Giovanni’s jet. “Attention, bogey inbound at 6 o’ clock. Permission given from the Boss to shoot to kill. Repeat, permission given to shoot to kill!”

“Copy that!”

“Yessir!” The two fighters escorting Giovanni’s jet broke formation and proceeded to make a u-turn behind Giovanni’s jet and sped on towards the bogey. Superman, meanwhile, flew towards the jets. He knew they were coming after him, and he had never dealt with a jet fighter before. Obviously, this would be tricky. But he pressed on, determined to catch Giovanni before he reached the Rocket base.

“Firing one,” Suddenly,, one of the fighter jets fired one of its missiles at him. He only had a split second before he could dodge the missile and he broke off quickly as the missile sped past him. But before he knew it, he noticed the missile was still following him. It must have been a guided missile and it had locked onto his heat signature! Of course, he wasn’t sure how it could have locked onto him, since he wasn’t a jet. But who cares!? He had a missile on his tail and two fighter jets heading right towards him. Caught between a rock and a hard place.

The problem was whether or not the missile would chase after the jets if he played his cards right. He would have to do some tricky flying to get the missile to lock on to the jet’s engines. But with the jets coming in, he had a chance. The Rocket jets flew past him, and he began to make his move. He immediately flew straight up in the air to get the missile to follow him. His effort worked, and the missile was still on his 6. Now come the tricky part. He had to get the missile to chase after the jets.

Now came the harder part. How to maneuver in order to get behind the missile? If he slowed down, the missile could hit him. If he flew wrong—jeez, this was frustrating. He had to give something a shot. He flew on his back and positioned his body with the symbol on his chest facing down again. Sure enough, the missile followed him and the jets were still moving away from him. His plan had worked. Now he had to get this missile off his 6.

The jets still flew in front of him, as if they had not noticed he was behind them. Even better. He didn’t know whether his plan would work, but he had to try anyway. He increased his speed to make sure he could get to them. He began gaining on the Rocket jets, and still, they appeared unaware of his presence. Now he was flying faster than the jets and within 30 seconds, he sped right past the jets. The pilots watched him zip past, surprised at his speed. That’s when they noticed the missile coming. “Inbound missile at 6 o’ clock!”

“What!?” Giovanni practically roared when he heard that his fighters were being trailed by a missile—their missile. This day was just getting more and more infuriating! And then he heard another transmission.

“Incoming bogey at 12 o’ clock!” Indeed, Superman was now flying at high speed right towards the Rocket jets. But there was no way he’d fly through them. All he was doing was trying to distract them from the incoming missile. Once he was at the right distance, he’d break off and let the missile do its work. The jets kept flying towards him. It was like a game of Chicken; one force would have to break off at some point. And that one was Superman.

Once he was close enough, Superman broke off from his flight path. The pilots reacted by watching Superman dive down towards the ground. But then they noticed the missile was locked on to one of them. “The missile is locked on to one of the Rocket jets!” Said Giovanni’s pilot. Giovanni was beyond furious, practically suffering a full-blown villainous breakdown.

“I HATE THAT MAN!!!” He roared. “SHOOT HIM DOWN!!! NOW!!!”

“But we don’t have any guns or missiles, Boss!” said his pilot, his voice shaking in terror. “We’re technically a civilian plane!” Giovanni ran his hand through his hair in anger. This man was infuriating! But then, his emotions would change. “Boss Giovanni, we have an incoming message from Headquarters!” Giovanni began to calm down, has he was beginning to suspect what was going on.

“What does it say?” He said.

“It’s from Prof. Mengel,” he said. Giovanni began to smirk. This must be good. “It says, ‘it’s ready.’ That’s all it says, sir.”

“Well, now?” Said Giovanni. “Then this changes things. Call the pilots and tell them to break off the attack.”

“Yes sir,” said the pilot. “Boss to flight 2, boss to flight 2, you are to cease hostilities with bogey, repeat, you are to cease hostilities with bogey—oh, the missile just struck a Rocket jet.” Giovanni growled at the loss of his jet. But a look outside showed that the pilot had bailed out.

Meanwhile, Superman watched the pilot bail out of his jet just as the missile struck the engine. The missile was gone, and now there was just one fight jet left. But to his surprise, the jet did not attack him. What’s going on? He thought. Instead, the jet went back to escorting Giovanni’s plane. Superman decided to trail Giovanni’s jet at a lower altitude to find out exactly where Giovanni was going.

He did not know Giovanni was leading him into a trap.

“Has he arrived yet?” Giovanni asked as he arrived at the Nevada Rocket base. There was a buzz of activity around the base because of two things: the Rocket armies poised to attack the capitals of the world, and the incoming Superman.

“Not yet, sir,” said a Rocket executive. “His ETA is approximately 5 minutes.”

“Good, get some defense up. We don’t want him to think this is easy. And get it ready,” he said.

“Yes sir,” said the executive. Like Giovanni, he had a devilish smirk on his face. “Superman will not know what hit him.”

“Good,” said Giovanni. “Let him come. He won’t know what hit him.” Today was his day. The take over of the world, the death of his enemy, the only thing left to do was unleash his evil laugh. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

“So that’s where it is,” Superman said to himself as he approached the Rocket base. It looked much like an Air Force and Army base, which he suspected may have been the reason why no one noticed it—it would have looked like a standard United States military base. He looked down and noticed a bevy of activity on the base. Giovanni must have arrived. And they were getting ready for his arrival. He smirked. Looks like things were going to get interesting.

The Rocket Grunts on the ground began preparing for his arrival. He wasn’t expecting them to roll out the red carpet, no sir, but he wasn’t expecting them to gather outside. No doubt, they’d have guns and Pokemon ready to go. He then began to decrease his altitude from what he estimated to be close to a mile above the ground. He was not going to do a nosedive, but he was going to do both a gradual and sudden descent. He could handle it.

The Rocket grunts on the ground prepared for Superman’s arrival. They shook with anticipation and fear at the man’s arrival. Could they handle him? “He’s coming!” Came the announcement. “Get ready!” The grunts pointed their weapons to the west, which is where Superman was coming from. They saw a small speck in the distance grow closer and closer to the base, which soon began to become a noticeable shape. It was clearly Superman. They watched him approach with fearful anticipation.

Superman was getting closer. He was now 500 feet above the ground, and about a mile from the base. He continued to descend towards the base while the Rockets were still preparing for his arrival. Half a mile away, and he was now 200 feet in the air. 3/5 of a mile; 175 feet. 2/5 of a mile; 125 feet. 1/4 of a mile; 50 feet. He began to slow down. A Rocket officer readied his men. “Stand by!” He called. 500 feet from the base, and he was now 25 feet from the ground. Twenty. Fifteen. Ten. Five. He reached the base. Touchdown. “FIRE!!!!”

All hell broke loose. Suddenly, Superman was bombarded by all kinds of small arms, artillery and all kinds of weaponry fire and Pokemon attacks.. But they did nothing. The sun was shining and it was close to 1:00 in the afternoon, when the sun was strong. With that factor, Superman was invincible. Superman stood tall and began walking towards the Rocket grunts attacking him. The weaponry bounced off of him and the only thing that could actually stop him, were missiles. But even that didn’t stop him. The looks on the faces of the Rocket grunts changed to one of absolute terror at the advancing Kryptonian. Many of them broke off the attack and retreated.

“No, you fools!” Cried their commander. But his command fell on deaf ears as the Rocket resistance fell apart in front of Superman; who, by the way, was surprised at this development. He didn’t expect them to break off their resistance like this! But it didn’t matter. He had other things to worry about, like getting Giovanni.

With the Rocket resistance strangely crumbling in front of him, he began advancing to the main gate. And incase you’re wondering, no, he was not in the main gate. Using his heat vision, he melted the gate lock and kicked the gate in. Then, resistance within the base surprised him. Figures. The Rockets wouldn’t break off resistance this easily. That was only the first round of defense. Now he had to deal with a much more fierce second line of defense. And they had tanks, too. This was interesting.

In response, he bounded to one of the tanks and grabbed the turret. Then he ripped the turret from the tank and threw it to the side. A sudden jolt alerted him to another tank to his right. Again, he flew over to the tank and ripped the turret off this one, too. One by one, he tore the turrets of all 10 tanks and tossed them aside, leaving them essentially useless. Once again, the resistance crumbled around him, and he was left with no resistance at all. But he still might as well take care of the rest of them.

He focused his attention on what looked like the main structure. It was possible that the Rockets were coordinating their defense from there. He flew towards the building, while some small arms and rocket fire came his way, which he dodged. To begin with the main building, he smashed through some windows, finding himself in what looked like a planning room. Several Rocket officers were looking over maps, most likely of the World capitals. The Rocket officers reacted quickly and pulled out their guns and Pokemon, unleashing them on Superman.

Once again, all hell broke loose as Superman had to fight off Pokemon attacks and deal with small arms fire. He first proceeded to use his heat vision on some computers, which were most likely used to coordinate the attacks. Then he fought off more Pokemon attacks to take out some complex machinery, no doubt used to coordinate the base activity. He then proceeded to destroy those, too. However, one Rocket officers did sound an alarm, which Superman had to destroy. But since it was most likely the whole base knew he was here, then it didn’t really matter. He’d still have to fight off enemy soldiers.

With what looked to be the control room done, he proceeded into the hallway where he was confronted by what looked to be a platoon of Rocket grunts. Once again, they let loose on him with small-arms fire and Pokemon attacks. While trying to withstand the barrage, he flew right towards the Rocket soldiers and, keeping his head down, knocked them over like bowling pins. “Strike!” With what looked like 24 Rockets down, he proceeded down the hallway, this time into—

Oh, dear. Superman had stumbled onto a large, gymnasium-like room, where what looked to be several hundred Rockets preparing for an attack. And they all noticed him. He may be invincible, but even he couldn’t handle what looked to be a thousand Rocket grunts.

After escaping from that fiasco, he tried to find another area of the building. After walking down the halls for what seemed like 10 minutes, he stumbled upon a room that captured his interest. And it was locked—with a padlock! He scoffed to himself. These guys have so much advanced technology that they need a padlock? Pathetic! He used his heat vision to melt the padlock and went inside to see—and this was worse than the gym full of Rockets.

What looked to be hundreds of Pokemon, all of which had most likely been abused by some of the Team Rocket members. The rows of boxes containing the clearly despondent Pokemon were a huge shock to him. As if he didn’t need this unnecessary twist, already, having known about the attacks. But then he got an idea. He could set them free and let them wreak havoc on the base, no doubt getting back at their captors and allowing him the go after Giovanni. With that thought, he freed all of the Pokemon in the room.

His plan worked perfectly, and the captive Pokemon proceeded to attack their captors with vigor. Now the Rockets were less focused on him and more focused on containing their Pokemon. But even that didn’t work to well, and with the Rockets distracted, Superman proceeded to knock out the rest of the base’s defenses.

That only left Giovanni. After getting out of the main building and allowing the captured Pokemon to be set free, he flew up into the air to find where Giovanni was. Using his X-ray vision, he began looking for Giovanni. He checked the hangers for Giovanni before locating him in hanger #18.

Giovanni was talking with top Rocket executives when they heard the hanger door opening. Guess who it was. “Giovanni!” he called. Giovanni smirked. He was right on time.

“I was wondering when you’d show up, Superman!” he lied.

“It’s over Giovanni,” he said. “The base’s defenses are down, and it’s just you and me now.”

“You forget,” said Giovanni. “My armies are still ready to march on the capitals of the world. And there’s nothing you can do about it!”

“Damn,” Superman said to himself. “You sick bastard!”

“That’s not a nice thing to say!” Giovanni said. “I’d think your emotions would be compromised after I threatened to kill your adoptive mother!”

“That’s not a factor,” he replied. “I’m just here to stop you and your sick schemes.”

“HAHAHAHAHA!!! You can’t stop me!” he said. “You don’t understand what you’re dealing with!”

“I understand you’re a sick man who needs to be brought to justice,” he replied. Giovanni laughed again.

“HAHAHAHAHA!!! You keep using that word ‘sick’,” he said. “And you’ll bring me to justice? Please, your talk of justice is outdated, better suited for comic books in the 1950s! People are animals. They’re rash and impulsive beings that think only for their own gain. They need to be controlled. I will do that.”

“People may be animals,” Superman replied. “But they’re not all selfish. Humans are good people, and I believe they can become a great people! They just need the light to show the way.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Your thoughts are outdated!” He said. “Haven’t you seen what humans can do in this decade? September 11, suicide bombings, war, terrorism genocide. These are all human acts! Why not give into those instincts? I sure have!”

“Then I will stop you,” said Superman.

“If you can catch me,” Giovanni said. “I will call off my armies. I will disband Team Rocket and go quietly. But first, you have to fight Team Rocket’s newest mechanical creation.”

“Really?” Superman said. He cracked his knuckles, eager to face this robot. It would most likely be some pathetic machine. Giovanni smirked. Superman had taken the bait! His plan was working perfectly!

“Well then Superman,” he said. “I would like to introduce to you our newest creation!” He gestured to a large box behind him. Several Rockets opened the box and a cloud of smoke billowed out. Superman watched with interest. Out came a Pokemon shaped robot, which looked much like a Mewtwo. “This… is MechaMewtwo!” Well, that confirmed it. “Beautiful, isn’t it, Superman? Made of the strongest metals in the world! Impervious to weapons fire! After Mewtwo went rogue on me, I had the Rocket scientists put their minds to work to create a new weapon, and well, here it is!”

“You know this won’t do well against me!” Said Superman. “I’ll tear it apart.” Giovanni smirked. Superman was cocky.

“Well then, go ahead,” he said. “But be warned it’s not what you’re expecting.” Giovanni then got out of the way for Superman and MechaMewtwo to fight. The two combatants circled each other, looking for an opening. Then, MechaMewtwo lunged at Superman. Superman braced for the robot’s impact and took the blow when the mecha slammed into him. With great force, Superman pushed the robot off of him. Then Superman went on the offensive. He charged the robot, thinking it was over. It wasn’t.

Just then, the mecha opened up its chest section using two swinging panels. Superman wondered what was going on, when suddenly, a green light began to shine out of the robot’s chest. Suddenly, he felt intense pain, nausea, dizziness, and shortness of breath. The symptoms forced Superman to fall to the ground. The Kryptonian writhed in pain, his face contorting and in pain wondering just what in the world was going on.

“HAHAHA!!! I told you it won’t be what you’re expecting!” Giovanni said. Superman looked at Giovanni with the dirtiest look imaginable. Giovanni walked over to Superman and kicked him. “Do you like it?” He said. ‘It’s a little substance from your home world, Superman. A radioactive substance, that is. We’ve found that it’s the only thing that can harm a Kryptonian! We call it a little something called, Kryptonite!”

“How… did… you… know?” Superman said through the pain.

“We have our ways,” he replied. “Now then Superman, your time is up. Whilst I will rule over this world as global emperor! HAHAHAHAHA!!!” he laughed again as he and his executives departed the hanger for another one. Superman glared at the men as he recovered, but then, as soon as they left, the hanger doors closed on him and MechaMewtwo.

Giovanni and his executives then went to a waiting limousine, leaving Superman with MechaMewtwo. The base itself was being evacuated, as Giovanni’s trap had been successful. “Get me to Las Vegas,” said Giovanni as he entered the car. “We’ll depart for Washington from there.”

“But what if Superman defeats MechaMewtwo?” Said Cassidy. “Shouldn’t we be worried about that?”

“He won’t defeat MechaMewtwo,” he replied. “The Kryptonite will kill him before he can even put up a fight.”

Inside the hanger, Superman was kicking himself mentally. It was a trap! And he had fallen for it! He could not let himself feel arrogance, and he was paying for it. But now he had to focus on MechaMewtwo. He had to figure out what to do. Now, if this was a robotic version of Mewtwo, then it will no doubt have Mewtwo’s attacks. If they managed to transfer Mewtwo’s psychic powers to a robot, something that isn’t exactly easy, then it should be able to use Mewtwo’s attacks.

Sure enough, MechaMewtwo unleashed a Psybeam attack. Wait a minute, Mewtwo doesn’t have that attack! But that thought was cleared pretty quickly, as he had to dodge said attack. In his weakened state, there was no way he could withstand that attack. He had to get into the sunlight, fast. Might as well try to lure the mechanical abomination outside. And fast. He positioned himself near the hangar door to try and trick the MechaMewtwo into smashing a hole in the door. He even gave the monster a ‘bring it on’ gesture. Bad idea.

Instead, Mecha Mewtwo lunged at him, grabbed him, and threw him away from the hangar door. How did that fail? Then he remembered the sufficient technology Team Rocket has access to. No doubt they gave it some artificial intelligence. “You actually tried to trick me?” it said as it advanced on him. Well, that part is confirmed. “And yes, I can read your mind.” Dammit! “You won’t get outside as long as I have anything to say about it!” The mechanical monster again lunged at Superman, landing a punch on the weakened Kryptonian.

“Can you beat me though?” Superman said as he struggled to get up.

“Yes, I can!” The robot yelled. Using a Psychic attack, it picked up a piece of debris and flung it at Superman. Superman dodged the debris, but was not fast enough to stop MechaMewtwo from coming in and delivering a powerful sidekick that knocked him backwards and through a window. But it was simply into another room and not outside, as he had hoped. He had to do something. If not, MechaMewtwo would run roughshod over him. He had to take his chance.

When MechaMewtwo walked into the room, Superman got up and launched himself at MechaMewtwo, The mechanized Pokemon was caught of guard by Superman’s sudden attack and tried to defend itself but Superman rammed himself into the robot’s chest, sending it backwards and crashing into some debris. “Impressive,” said the robot. Then it used another Psychic attack and sent what looked like an airplane engine at Superman. Superman took a step to his left and dodged it, all the while trying to get close to MechaMewtwo. He needed the right time. He had to get MechaMewtwo in front of the hangar door in order for his plan to work. And he also needed to find the right time to strike.

A few more launched items, including a kitchen sink later, and Superman had MechaMewtwo right were he wanted him. Now he just had to wait for the right time to strike, when MechaMewtwo would be at his most vulnerable. And he had to be sure MechaMewtwo wasn’t reading his mind. MechaMewtwo began picking up another item, no doubt to throw at him. Then he realized. Now was the perfect time to strike! He immediately launched himself at MechaMewtwo, crashing into the robot’s chest. His plan worked, and the two combatants crashed through the hangar doors.

They landed outside in the Nevada sun. Now Superman could feel the sun giving him power. His weakness left and was replaced by strength. And now it was time to destroy MechaMewtwo. He launched himself at the metal creature again, this time giving it a firm punch to the face. The robot flew backwards about 20 feet before coming to a rest some distance away. Now Superman had the upper hand.

He walked firmly over to MechaMewtwo while said robot tried to get up. It opened its chest panel to expose the kryptonite, which did indeed stop Superman. For about a second. The sun was giving him enough strength to resist the Kryptonite. He shook his head and once again launched himself at MechaMewtwo, giving it a powerful roundhouse kick, which sent it flying towards another hangar. But Superman wasn’t going to let it enter one, so he used his heat vision to close the doors of the nearest hangar. MechaMewtow was now at Superman’s mercy.

Back in Pallet, Delia, Professor Oak, Brock, Gary, Tracey and Misty waited anxiously for Ash to return. There were still no reports of any other Rocket attacks, so there was still some hope. Misty was sitting by the window with a worried look on her face, looking towards the east. She was worried sick about Ash, probably the most worried of all of them. “Misty, honey?” A soft voice from behind startled her, but she knew who it was.

“What is it, Ms. Ketchum?” She asked.

“You’re worried, aren’t you?” Delia replied. Misty looked down at her hands, trying to think about her answer.

“Yeah, I am,” she replied. “I just don’t want Ash to die.”

“He’ll be fine,” said Delia. But another look at Misty’s face told another story. Delia smiled again, which made Misty a little worried.

“What is it, Ms. Ketchum?” She asked.

“You’re in love with Ash, aren’t you?” The question surprised Misty, who immediately blushed in response.

“N-n-n-no, it’s n-n-n-not like that!” She stuttered. “I don’t even—,” But a good look at Delia’s face told her she knew she was lying. “Then maybe I am in love with him,” she said.

“I’m happy for you,” she said. Misty looked at her strangely. “If there was anyone for Ash to love, I’m glad it was you.”

“Really?” Misty asked, as she was actually flattered.

“Yes, he really seems to like you,” she said. “He always talks about you enthusiastically. I think he might be in love with you, too.” Now Misty was blushing even more, since she had no idea. Even though that kiss she shared with him earlier should have told her otherwise.

“He is?” She replied.

“I think so,” Delia said. “I think you two would make a fine couple.” Misty blushed again, her teenage emotions getting to her. But then she smiled, her hope in Ash once again returning. So she was in love with him. That would make their reunion all the more better.

Come on Ash. Do it for me.

Back at the Rocket base, MechaMewtwo was running out of options. Superman was tossing him around like a rag doll, and the Pokemon were attacking him as well. It looked as though nothing was going right for it.

Until it remembered the Device. It mentally smirked, as it now had a way to weaken Superman. It used its radio to call the Rockets who were still on the base. “MechaMewtwo to base, MechaMewtwo to base, do you copy?”

“Copy that MechaMewtwo, was is it you need?” They replied.

“Activate the Device,” it said. Giovanni had given it permission to use said Device, so it didn’t matter.

“Copy that MechaMewtwo, activating Device right now.” The Rockets in the control room began working on whatever it was that MechaMewtwo was talking about. “It may take some time before we get it ready.”

“What are you doing, MechaMewtwo?” Superman said. “What ever it is, with won’t do you any good.”

“Are you positive?” He replied. He didn’t get a chance to say more, because Superman delivered a powerful punch to get him to shut up. MechaMewtwo responded by using his telekinesis to send Superman back. But he recovered and once again attacked MechaMewtwo with all of his Kryptonian fury. He was getting slightly frustrated that he really hadn’t done much against the robot, but he had to remember that the robot was made from some very hard metal. But thing were about to change for the worst. Suddenly, MechaMewtwo began to laugh. “What are you up to?” He said.

“Do you really want to know?” It replied. “Well to bad, because you’re about to find out anyway!” The robot pointed to the hills near the base. That’s when Superman heard a loud noise coming from them. He looked and saw some… thing coming out of the mountains. He watched as it unfolded into a circular fan. Then he watched in amazement as the object positioned itself over the base and blocked out the sun, pitching the base into nighttime in the afternoon. “Do you like it?” Said MechaMewtwo. “It’s called the SunBlocker!”

“Whatever it’s called,” said Superman. “It won’t help you anyway. I’ll still beat you!” He tried to punch MechaMewtwo, but the robot opened its chest panels, exposing Superman to the Kryptonite. Superman recoiled from the robot, once again feeling the effects of the Kryptonite.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! It’s useless!” MechaMewtwo said. “I know you derive your power from the sun. So I had the base staff activate the SunBlocker to derive you of your power source, and then expose you to the Kryptonite!” Superman looked on in horror. How could he be so blind? “And now, you DIE!!!!”

With Superman in his weakened state, it was easy for MechaMewtwo to pick him up using his psychic powers. Superman tried to resist, but the Kryptonite was making it difficult. MechaMewtwo then, using his telekinesis, threw Superman into one of the buildings a good 20 feet away. Superman groaned in pain as he crashed into the wall. The Kryptonite had weakened him severely and it made him less impervious to pain.

“Think you can defeat me now?” MechaMewtwo said as he grabbed Superman. One Venusaur essentially disagreed with him and used a Sunny Day attack to give Superman some power. The only problem was that it didn’t exactly work, what with the sun being blocked and all. MechaMewtwo responded by using a Psychic attack on it and knocking out of commission. “Pathetic being,” it said.

“You monster!” Superman said. The robot didn’t take too kindly to that and threw Superman again. However, one Bellossom sent a Solarbeam attack at Superman. Unlike last time, it actually worked, and Superman actually felt some of his strength return. In response, he charged MechaMewtwo and punched it hard. “It’s not over yet,” he said.

“Fine,” said MechaMewtwo. Superman charged MechaMewtwo while the robot stood firm. The two locked their hands in struggle, trying to overpower the other. It just so happened that Superman had the upper hand here and sent MechaMewtwo back a few feet. It recovered and charged Superman. Superman blocked MechaMewtwo’s next attack, but was caught off guard when it exposed him to more Kryptonite. He recoiled, but MechaMewtwo grabbed him and threw him threw the window of the building before following him in.

In cities across the world, people watched in nervous anticipation of Superman and MechaMewtwo’s fight. When the SunBlocker appeared, it blocked the view of the base, leaving them figuratively in the dark about the fight and the news stations scrambling for a shot. Any shot. But still the people did not give up hope at all. No, they knew Superman could win and they did not despair.

Damn, I should have flown, Superman thought to himself inside the building. He had managed to elude MechaMewtwo, but he knew that the robot could easily find him at some point and attack him. Right now he needed to find something that could help him beat the robot. And he had to find it fast, because he could hear the robot approaching. He could change back into Ash, but that probably wouldn’t work. MechaMewtwo would most likely identify him anyway. It didn’t help that some of the doors had lead in them. Seriously, how puts lead in a building today, anyway?

Anyway, Superman had to find something. Maybe a device the Team Rocket scientists used. Especially since he was in what seemed to be the main research building, he could find a weapon to use against MechaMewtwo. Now where was the weapons room? That was cut short when he felt a strong punch on his left cheek. “Never let your guard down,” said MechaMewtwo. It must have found him! Superman got up and punched MechaMewtwo, which the robot blocked easily. The Kryptonite must have still been affecting him. MechaMewtwo grabbed Superman and threw him into another room.

Superman groaned amongst the machinery in the room. He looked around, noticing this was a weapons room. Perfect! Now to just find a—“Oh, no you don’t!” MechaMewtwo used its psychic powers again and tossed Superman out of the room. The robot followed and kicked him a little more. “The great Superman,” he said mockingly. “Pathetic!”

“You’re underestimating me,” said Superman. “I can still beat you!”

“We shall see!”

“…This just in, we’re getting reports of Team Rocket armies attacking Washington, London, Moscow, Paris, Berlin and Beijing. From what it looks like, Team Rocket may be launching their main assault on the capitals of the world. The militaries of the United States, Britain, France, Russia, Germany and China are all putting up fierce resistance…”

At the Ketchum house, the group watched in nervousness. “Come on Ash,” Misty said softly.

“Do you think he can do it?” Brock asked.

“I hope so,” said Misty. “That’s the only thing we can do right now is keep our hopes up. Even if we can’t actually do something.”

“I hope so too Misty,” said Tracey. “But right now, he’s on his own, and to my knowledge, unless a miracle happens, we can’t help him.” Misty’s and everyone else’s heart sank. They were helpless to do anything other than wait for Superman/Ash to do his job. It was the worst feeling in the world right now.

Come on, Ash.

“OW!!!” Superman yelled in pain was slammed against another wall by MechaMewtwo. The robot had exposed him to Kryptonite two more times, severely weakening the Kryptonian. Things were starting to look bleak. Then it just got a lot worse.

“The Rocket armies have begun attacking!” Said MechaMewtwo. “Your feeble attempts to stop Team Rocket are failing!” Superman gasped in horror.

No! He thought. He had thought he could defeat MechaMewtwo by now, but the robot’s use of the Kryptonite had hampered that big time. And now he was on the second floor of the research building, still trying to defeat MechaMewtwo. And failing miserably.

“Yes!” Said MechaMewtwo. “Face it, you’ve failed!”

“I have not yet begun to fight!” Said Superman as he charged MechaMewtwo. But in his weakened state, he missed the robot by a wide margin.

“Please,” said MechaMewtwo. “You can barely even stand up!”

“That’s because you’ve fought dirty this whole time,” said Superman. “You don’t expose your enemy to his weakness, and you don’t cheat, either.”

“You fool!” Said MechaMewtwo. “Rules are for boxing and MMA matches!” MechaMewtwo launched another Psychic attack, this time knocking him into another room, this one filled with minerals. Superman struggled to get up, but another exposure of Kryptonite prevented that. “Pathetic,” said MechaMewtwo. “You’re finished, Superman. You fought valiantly; I’ll give you that. But you’re no match for me or Team Rocket! This planet will soon be under the control of Giovanni! A new world order will arise, one with Giovanni as absolute ruler! The silly systems of communism, democracy, and republicanism will no longer matter! All will be subjected to Giovanni’s system! And your friends will be killed, or possibly enslaved!”

Superman glared at MechaMewtwo. There was no way he was going to let that happen! He had to stop this! He did his best to stand up, but the leftover pain from the Kryptonite exposure made such an action difficult to do. And all the while, MechaMewtwo was standing over him, shaking his head at his failure. He felt MechaMewtwo kick him in the chest once again, feeling the pain of the robot’s metal foot. He had to do something! He had to fight back! But in his weakened state, it was nearly impossible. It seemed like he himself had run out of hope. There was no way to defeat this thing.

Then, it happened. He had no idea why it happened, it just did. For no reason what so ever, he began hearing voices. Almost like he was going crazy. Was this an effect of the Kryptonite?

“Please, somebody help us…”

“We need your help…”

“We know you can do it…”

The voices penetrated his head. It wasn’t like a mind rape, but it was more like a mind healing. These people were in desperate need! They kept on saying the same thing, over and over again,

“Help us…”

“Save us…”

“Protect us…”

“Superman…”

Then he realized. These people were calling for him! All this time, he had no idea what he was. He thought he was just helping people, and nothing else. Just being a good person. He had no idea that people looked to him this way.

“Superman…”

“Superman…”

He realized something. These people saw him as a symbol of hope! No, more than that! As the embodiment of hope! It may sound cheesy, but that’s the way it was. He could hear them. Millions—no, billions—of people calling his name out for help. He had to stop Team Rocket, for all the people of the world. He had to do it for them. But there was one voice that stood out among all the others.

“You can do it. I believe in you, Superman. No, I believe in you, Ash…”

Misty… He looked at MechMewtwo. There was no way he was going to lose this fight! He was going to win--for the whole world. He was going to win--for humanity. He was going to win--For Misty. With the people of the world giving him mental strength, he began to rise from the ground. The pain was intense, but he knew he could stand up. Slowly, but surely, he stood up, and stood tall before MechaMewtwo.

“So you’ve stood up,” it said. “Impressive. But that still won’t save you!” The robot lunged at Superman, but he blocked the robot’s attack. The robot’s arm smashed a glass containing some blue rocks. One such rock landed near him. Suddenly, he felt his strength return and the pain subside. Could this rock be the reason? He had no time to think about that as MechaMewtwo once again lunged at him. “DIE!!!”

Without thinking, he grabbed the rock. MechaMewtwo grabbed his neck and started to squeeze, trying to strangle him. But with the rock giving his strength back, it wasn’t working. Superman then grabbed the robot’s head and began squeezing as well. MechaMewtwo then opened its chest panels, exposing Superman to the Kryptonite.

“You, will, DIE!!!” It yelled and squeezed. The blue rock was doing its job, and Superman could barely feel the effects of the Kryptonite. Whatever this stuff was, it was a miracle worker. He squeezed the robot’s head harder, hoping this would be it. MechaMewtwo then noticed the blue rock in his hand. “What!?” Suddenly, cracks began to appear on the robot’s head. “No! DIE, SUPERMAN, DIE!!!” It began to squeeze Superman’s neck harder, and keeping its chest panels open.

Superman kept squeezing the robot’s head, while MechaMewtwo continued to strangle him. Superman began feeling his breath shorten, and the robot had a death grip on him. At the same time, more tiny cracks appeared on the robot’s head. Superman almost screamed from the pain of MechaMewtwo’s grip. At the same time, MechaMewtwo was groaning from its exertion. It would only be a matter of time before one combatant fell.

The cracks continued to form in MechaMewtwo’s robotic skull. With its advanced AI, it to, could feel the pain of its head being crushed. But that’s all it was. Artificial. Fake. It wasn’t real. And it had to be destroyed. It was a mockery to all Pokemon everywhere. Superman continued to squeeze. The Kryptonite and the blue rock were offsetting each other. And still, MechaMewtwo squeezed, Superman’s neck. It was close to victory. Until—

Crack... crack… crack… crack… SMASH!!! Then, Superman squeezed with all his remaining strength. With the squeeze of his hand, the robot’s head crumpled in on itself. Superman had crushed its head. With that, Superman grabbed the robot’s arm and smashed it, as well. MechaMewtwo fell to the ground as sparks flew out of its skull.

It was defeated.

Superman took a deep breath. A welcome breath, as it was needed after the robot nearly strangled him to death. But the Kryptonite was still exposed. So, he walked over to the robot’s body and closed its chest panels. Using his heat vision, he sealed the robot’s chest shut. It was over.

He carried the robot’s body out of the research building, where all the freed Pokemon had been waiting. He placed the robot on the ground and said, “Do what you want with it. It’s dead.” With that, all the Pokemon instantly began cheering. Superman was victorious. But he was not done yet. There was the matter of Giovanni. But first, he needed to find out where he was, get his strength back, etc.

First, he flew up towards the SunBlocker. Since MechaMewtwo was dead, he didn’t have to worry about it chasing him. He flew high and higher until finally, he smashed through the SunBlocer. Instantly, he could feel the light of the sun giving him his strength back. At the same time, he noticed the newscopters. He gave them a quick salute.

“What is that?”

“What?”

“Look, in the sky! It’s a bird!”

“It’s a plane.”

“No, it’s—,”

“SUPERMAN!!!”

“Unbelievable, look at this! It’s Superman, he just smashed through the device blocking off the base! He’s won! This is unbelievable!”

Around the world, as soon as people saw what had happened, they erupted in cheers. Superman had won! He had beaten MechaMewtwo! All around the world, people celebrated. Church, shrine and temple bells were wrung. People chanted his name over and over again. The world was saved!

In Pallet, they cheered too. Misty was probably the one who cheered the most. Most of the group there was surprised at this, but Delia was not. She knew how Misty felt about him. They could hear outside, people cheering as well. They could also hear the chants of “Su-per-man! Su-per-man! Su-per-man!”

“Way to go, Ash!” Cried Misty. For some reason, there were tears in her eyes. “I knew you could do it, I knew you could!”

But Superman wasn’t don yet. First, he had to take care of the SunBlocker. With his renewed strength, he grabbed the SunBlocker, tore it off and discarded it like a piece of trash. Now he had to get the armies to surrender. Immediately, he flew towards the base again, looking for wherever the attacks were being coordinated. And he found them in one of the buildings that he had failed to clear out.

Inside, Rocket officers watched the troop movements. The Rocket armies were doing well, with Moscow close to falling and Washington and London having been close to 25% captured. However, their activities ended when they heard a loud crash. They looked to see Superman standing in the room. They all pulled their weapons out, but Superman walked over to the highest-ranking Rocket officer. He grabbed the man and lifted him off the ground. “Call off the attacks now.” He said firmly. The Rocket officer knew he wasn’t kidding around.

“B-b-b-but I c-c-c-can’t do that!” He said. “Only Giovanni has that authority.”

Superman grabbed him with his other hand. He brought the man to eye level and said very firmly, “Then. Where. Is. He?”

To be continued

I’m sorry I had to cut you off there, but, ONE CHAPTER LEFT!!! FUCK YEAH!!! IT’S ALMOST OVER!!! And better yet, SUPERMAN WON!!!! But what about Giovanni? Well, then you’ll have to stay tuned for that!