"Well, monster? Where is she?" Ecthros demanded. "Patience, Alex. She will be here in a matter of moments." Giovanni replied coolly. Ash, Misty, and Brock looked at each other. Suddenly, the door gave way, and they all fell in. Ecthros and Giovanni stared at them. "Umm...sorry to drop in like this..." Ash said nervously. "Ah, you made it. Good, when this is over, you can take care of the lab." Ecthros said. Misty noticed that Ecthros’ claws were out of his gloves and wondered what had happened. Before she could ask, a woman in a heavy costume with a big red ‘R’ on it and a mask walked in. Misty noticed that Ecthros had frozen in place looking at the woman. Giovanni hit him on the back. "Well? What are you waiting for? Go talk to her!" Ecthros walked up to the woman. Ash looked and saw that the woman had claws that were about to strike, and shouted out. "LOOK OUT ECTHROS!" he shouted. It was too late, the woman’s claws had slashed Ecthros across his face, knocking his hat off. He concentrated his strength to burst out of his trenchcoat and avoid the woman’s next swipe. "GIOVANNI, YOU TREACHEROUS IDIOT!!"He shouted at Giovanni, "YOU SAID YOU WOULD BRING ANNA TO ME! NOW WHERE IS SHE?!?!?" Giovanni laughed his cold laugh. "Right in front of you, trying to kill you!" Giovanni laughed, "You see, I had her mutated like you! And, like you, she didn’t cooperate! But recently, we developed a hypnosis formula, and she now does our every bidding!" Ecthros avoided all her attacks. He was her equal, and yet...he couldn’t harm her. He loved her, and knew this wasn’t her fault. "She’s as strong as you, and we added the fangs of a Golbat for a lovely blood-draining touch!" Giovanni said mockingly. "Ash, Brock, we have to do something!" Misty said, as the woman drew some of Ecthros’ blood with her fangs, "Ecthros is getting killed out there!" Ash nodded. "Charizard, squirtle, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Pigeotto, Go!" He sent out all his Pokémon. "Geodude, Vulpix, Onix, Zubat, go!" Brock commanded. "Staryu, Starmie, Tentacruel, Goldeen, go!" Misty ordered. "Help Ecthros against the woman!" Ash ordered his Pokémon. Misty ordered her Pokémon to do the same, and so did Brock. They all attacked the creature, but they were defeated fairly easily. Ecthros thought, While she was distracted with the Pokémon, Ecthros gave her a kick in the stomach, knocking her into the wall which collapsed as soon as she hit it. She immediately jumped at him and pinned him down by his throat. Ash looked at his remaining Pokémon. Only Pikachu and Charizard remained, and all of Misty and Brock’s Pokémon were down for the count. Charizard blasted her with his flamethrower, but she sucked it in and blasted it back at him. Charizard was pulled back into it’s Pokéball, and only Pikachu remained. "Pikachu...HIT HER WITH EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT!!" Ash shouted. Pikachu used his thunder attack, an impressive display. The woman creature felt it, but it wasn’t enough. "Maybe I can be of some assistance...." Ecthros gasped. He could barely breath, but he knew he had to do something. His yellow hair started to spark, and soon an electric attack almost as big as Pikachu’s came out. It combined with Pikachu’s and Anna cried out in pain. "I’m sorry...Anna..." Ecthros said. He pushed his power to it’s limits, and Pikachu did the same. Anna fell to the ground, defeated. She was unconscious. Ecthros felt her pulse. She was alive. "Now you are going to tell me how to get rid of this hypnotic formula you used, and you will tell me now, if you value your life!" Ecthros shouted at Giovanni, who was silent. Suddenly, Jesse, James, and Meowth ran in with only their underwear on. "Boss, you’ll never believe what happened-" James started, then he saw Ecthros, and the creature on the floor. "What the- who are they- I mean what are they- where what what?" James stuttered. "Don’t you recognize me, old friend?" Ecthros asked. Jesse and James looked confused and frightened. Meowth was busy trying to get his Charm back from Pikachu. "I- don’t know you..." Jesse said. "It’s me. Alex." at the mention of his name, Jesse and James looked surprised, then angry. They turned to Giovanni. "So that’s what the ‘special project’ was, huh?!" James shouted angrily. "You inhuman Jerk!" Jesse added. Giovanni took one step forward, and they jumped behind Ecthros. "We quite!" They shouted. "Meowth too!" Meowth said, remembering the things Alex had done for him. Pikachu gave him his charm and smiled at him. "Then none of you shall leave here alive." Giovanni said coolly. "Ha! We outnumber you, and Ecthros here could take on hundreds of your men! What are you planning to do?" Ash laughed. "I’m planning to fill the room with poisonous gas which is lethal even to Ecthros and to which I myself am immune." Giovanni said coolly. Suddenly, one of Misty’s Pokéballs opened, and Psyduck appeared in front of them. "Psyduck! Get out of here! We’re in danger!" Misty shouted. It was futile. The psyduck held it’s head and looked at her, puzzled. "psy...duck? psypsyduck?" It asked stupidly. Then it walked up to Giovanni, who called his Persian out to attack it. The Persian bit Psyduck on the head, and then knocked it backwards. It was about to attack again, when Psyduck started to glow. "What’s this? What kind of game are you playing?!" Giovanni demanded. Psyduck raised it’s arms, and suddenly Persian was thrown across the room by an invisible force. The Persian crashed into Ecthros, who backhanded it. "Good job, Psyduck! Now, get back in your pokéball." Misty called the duck back. "Curse all of you! I’ll end this now!" he reached for a button. Ecthros ran up, but wasn’t fast enough. Just as the button was about to be pressed, someone grabbed the evil Rocket boss from behind. Ecthros was amazed. "Anna!?!" Anna was holding Giovanni by the neck. She lifted him into the air. "You will pay for what you’ve done to us!" she shouted. the pressure increased on Giovanni’s neck and he screamed. Ecthros walked up to her and pried Giovanni out of her hands so that he was holding him. "We can’t just kill him, it would be wrong." He told Anna. "This is no time for an attack of conscience, Alex! This man must be stopped!" "Not like that!" Ash cried out. They both looked at him. Misty tried to stop him, but he walked up to the two huge creatures that were arguing in front of them. "Who are you?" Anna demanded. "A friend of Ecthros’. Look, killing Giovanni won’t solve anything." Ash said. "All it’ll do is make you a murderer." Misty put in. Anna looked at them, then at Ecthros. Then both of them disappeared, along with Giovanni. "That is getting really annoying!" Brock said. They looked at Jesse, James, and Meowth. "You guys ok?" Misty asked softly. "Yeah, just can’t believe they’re alive..." Jesse said. "I guess we’d better get going to the camp site." Brock said. They started to walk out of the hole in the wall, and Ash looked over to the former Team Rocket. "Do you want to come with us?" He asked. "What? You would...let us join you?" James asked. Misty grabbed Ash’s hand. "Yes, we would. Come on, lets get going." The group headed back towards the camp, overjoyed. That night, Ecthros and Anna came. They were both in trenchcoats, but they had their hats off. "Giovanni is in prison." Ecthros said, "Team Rocket is dispersed." "Most of the Rockets didn’t complain, except for one, who claimed that he was searching for a beautiful woman that had fallen into his arms. Frankly, I think he was drunk." Anna said, happily. She was holding hands with Ecthros. "Pffft! hahahaha! He sure looked it" Ash burst out laughing along with Brock and Pikachu. Misty stared at them, scowling. Anna laughed, and Ecthros smiled. "By the way, how did you come to your senses?" Misty asked Anna. "I guess the combined power of Alex and your Pikachu was enough to override the formula" Anna said. Then they saw Jesse and James. The two former Rockets rushed up to the friends they thought long deceased. "He told us you two died!" James stammered. They went out into the woods to talk about old times. Brock fell asleep, as did Pikachu, who was exhausted from the battle. That left Ash and Misty alone. "Misty...this was dangerous and, well, I’m worried, what if something happens to either of us? I mean, What if the Team Rockets people want revenge?" Ash asked, worried. Misty kissed him. "After all this, I don’t think anything can hurt us." She told him. He smiled and lay down on his back. Misty lay down next to him. They turned after a while to face each other, and kissed each other and held that kiss for a long time. In the woods, Ecthros smiled. he sensed what was happening at the camp, and decided to delay his friends as long as he could. "SO we’re joining up with Ash and all his friend..." James said. "And we were wondering..." Jesse put in. "Could you guys come too?" Meowth finished. Anna and Ecthros smiled. "Give us a second." Anna told them. She walked off with Ecthros into a remote part of the woods. "So how about it, Lover, are we going to spend the rest of our unnatural lives with our new and old friends, helping them become Pokémon masters?" Ecthros smiled. "Sounds like a Plan to me!" He kissed her and told her to go tell, he’d be there in a few minutes. he thought, He walked off after Anna to start his new life with her.