A Guardian's Deepest Fear...

(Warning Gore and Death Ahead)

Chapter 31 - A Guardian's Deepest Fear...

Mewtwo had helped Ash overcome his emotions and let his friends know that he was going to be alright. Delia thanked Mewtwo for saving her son and the girls thanked him as well. When they asked him what they went through, Mewtwo did not want to tell them, as it was hard to explain and was not a good experience. But when they insisted, the psychic feline agreed but warned them that they will witness gruesome sights. The group nodded and gathered along one side of the living room, giving Mewtwo space to show them, who took up a spot in front of them and took his sitting position again. His eyes glowed blue and a large blue sphere appeared floating in the air in front of the group, showing clear images as the memory sphere showed them what Mewtwo witnessed while inside Ash's mind. The group of people gasped at first and then went quiet, watching intently as a grey room appeared with a lone figure on his hands and knees in the middle of the room.

The lone figure in the middle of the room was Ash, and he was panting and sobbing heavily as four other figures stood around him, each of them glowing a different color. There was a red glowing figure, a green glowing figure, an orange glowing figure and a yellow glowing figure. Each glowing figure had their sight locked onto the raven haired trainer and the people watching Mewtwo's memory also saw that they each were identical to Ash except for their different colored glow. Ash covered his ears with his hands and was shaking his head while he remained in the middle of them as he was trapped.

"You're pathetic!" spat red Ash with anger coating each word. "No wonder you never won a league! You always make mistakes and get too cocky!"

"It's not fair!" whined green Ash. "Tobias has legendary pokémon! That's the only reason he won against you! The girls left you to go with someone else!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" yelled real Ash but his four manifested emotions ignored him and continued on.

"Nobody cares about you," sobbed orange Ash. "Nobody wants you to succeed. The girls don't love you; they're probably just playing a prank on you. And your dad never loved you since he left. You don't deserve anything. You're worthless."

"You're going to die alone!" yelped yellow Ash. "The darkness is coming! You can't fight! You're not strong enough to fight it! And your friends left you! Everyone is out to hurt you!"

"SHUT UP!" shouted real Ash as he trembled on the floor. Each time he tried to get away, one of his manifested emotions would block his attempt and strike him back down to the ground

"Oh my Mew. Is this why he was in so much pain?" asked Delia out loud as she put a hand up to her mouth, completely overwhelmed by what she was seeing. The others remained quiet, though the uncomfortable memory was already making them all feel horrible for what he had gone through.

"This is unfortunately only the beginning. It gets much worse," remarked Mewtwo. The group of people let out surprised cries to hear him speaking while showing a memory of his. "I'm the most powerful psychic in the world. There are some things that I can do that others cannot. Please, continue watching as this is merely the start."

A blue sphere began to form above the real Ash and next second, Mewtwo appeared. He looked around him and saw the four colored Ashes yelling and striking at the cowering real Ash. He growled before he brought out a large purple shield that expanded in all directions that pushed the colored Ashes far back. Mewtwo floated down to the real Ash and knelt in front of him as the four manifested emotions tried to get through the barrier that the psychic feline just made.

"I'm here Ash. Get up. C'mon, we have work to do," said Mewtwo as he placed a hand on his shoulder. Real Ash took several long minutes to compose himself before raising his tired head to see his friend.

"Am I glad to see you Mewtwo. Thank you buddy. But I don't know what to do or how. I've never gone through this before when we viewed my memories. Why did this happen? Was this supposed to happen because there were too many memories shown?" asked Ash, dropping and shaking his head a bit.

"We'll worry about that later Ash but right now we need to focus on what's happening now. I will help you. I have separated your emotions so we can tackle them one by one. I can help you fight them but perhaps it would be better for you to try on your own first since if I get involved it may cause unfixable damage. I will only intervene if absolutely necessary but I will stand by your side though and keep the others at bay as you face each one separately. That will make things a little easier."

"Yeah, I don't really want to get messed up even more than I am already. Well, let's get this show on the road," said Ash and he stood up. "Which emotion should I face first?"

"It is up to you Ash. We are inside your mind of course and we'll face the one you feel ready to tackle right now. The four we are to face are unfortunately the most powerful of the negative emotions; anger, sadness, jealousy and fear," remarked Mewtwo.

"Why do I have to face those four emotions?" asked Ash.

"Because those four are where all other negative emotions come from and for some reason these emotions are what you have been feeling many times in the past," explained Mewtwo.

"I see," stated Ash as he thought for a moment. "Let's face off against sad me first."

"Very well, I will allow your manifested sadness to come to us. Are you ready?" asked Mewtwo and Ash nodded. Mewtwo's eyes glowed blue and the shield allowed orange Ash to go through it and he moved towards the two, who had a sad face on him and was shaking.

"You're sad Ash?" asked real Ash.

"NO!" shrieked orange Ash. "Well yea, but I'm your sadness! I know why we get sad all the time. We always think about how we keep falling short. Nobody cares about us. Our father left us. Our friends left us. Our pokémon are better off away from us than constantly losing battles or getting hurt because of us! We're not worthy of being a trainer and we don't deserve the girls' love."

"SHUT UP!" Real Ash had heard enough and shot an Aura Sphere at sad Ash but it just went through him. Real Ash and Mewtwo were stunned.

"Yea, just go ahead and hurt me! That's what everyone does! Nobody cares!" cried sad Ash. Real Ash was starting to feel bad as his manifested sadness was starting to affect him and orange Ash grew a bit and his orange glow brightened.

"What the hell?!" remarked Mewtwo, his eyes widening at what he witnessed. "Why are you growing and why did your orange glow get stronger?! Ash do you know..." Mewtwo went quiet when he saw real Ash on the floor, crying again and then noticed sad Ash getting bigger. The harder real Ash cried, the bigger sad Ash became and the purple feline figured out what was going on. "Ash! Stop crying! Don't listen to him! Don't let the sadness in! You have much to be happy about!"

"It doesn't matter! He's right! Nobody cares! Everyone I've ever known has left me! First my dad, then Misty, then May, then Dawn and then Serena! Brock left me too and so have Iris and Cilan! Gary and Leaf stopped being my friends when we were young! Leaf broke her promise to travel with me! Gary kept picking on me! I keep losing tournaments even though I tried my best! Nobody liked me and nobody likes me now and nobody cares about me either!" cried real Ash.

Leaf and Gary glanced at each other, their faces showing guilt and sadness at what they had done to Ash in the past. The four girls started trembling as they tried to keep the tears in, not wanting to cry again. Delia, Cynthia, Anabel and Sarah had crestfallen looks on their faces.

"DAMN IT ASH! Pull yourself together! Remember what is true! Remember the other things you've accomplished! You saved the world many times! You won the Orange League and Battle Frontier! And your friends didn't leave you; you let them go to follow their own paths to reach their own dreams! They were happy to see you again and they stuck by your side and wanted to help you whenever you were in trouble! Remember how happy they were when you revealed yourself to them!" reminded Mewtwo, hoping to get through to him as he reminded the young guardian of his past happy times.

It took a few minutes of Mewtwo reminding him of all the things that he had done and experienced to make real Ash stop sobbing finally as he thought about everything he was told. His breathing slowly returned to normal and as he calmed down, orange Ash began to shrink, returning to his normal size. Real Ash shook his head and stood up, his gaze on the floor for a second but then he raised his tear streaked face to look at his manifested sadness.

"I remember now. I have prevailed over horrible things. I saved legendaries. I fought against bad people. And my friends never left me. We only pursued different paths but stayed friends. They always remembered me and they do care about me!" shouted real Ash with conviction and sad Ash shrank even more, becoming even smaller than his normal height. "They helped me fight against those evil organizations! They taught me everything they knew! They traveled with me! All my friends have got my back! They will always stand by my side!"

As real Ash said each thing, sad Ash shrank smaller and smaller until he was about the size of a Pidgey. When real Ash finished saying that he was happy with his life, sad Ash dropped to his hands and knees, extremely weak. Real Ash lifted his hand up and an Aura Sphere appeared that he let fly towards the weakened manifested emotion and the orange version of himself exploded into a puff of orange smoke. The orange smoke traveled through the air and then merged with real Ash. Real Ash turned orange for a second before fading away and his brown eyes glowed blue for a second afterwards before changing back. Ash dropped to one knee, panting heavily as he took over control of his emotion.

"Well done Ash! You have overcome your sadness and now have control over it once more! It looks like in order to fight them you have to use the opposite good emotion against them since you used your past happiness to fight against your sadness. But only use it as a last resort if nothing else works. I don't think it'll be wise trying to talk or explain things to one of your emotions when all they want to do is beat you into a pulp. Do you need a break or do you want to continue?"

"Yeah, you have a point and it makes sense. Thanks and I think we should continue. Let's take care of Anger next."

Mewtwo nodded, pleased that Ash was still able to go on. He was actually impressed since he wasn't expecting for him to overcome one of his emotions so quickly. His eyes glowed blue and the shield let in red Ash who charged towards the two and raised his fist to strike at real Ash. Real Ash blocked red Ash's strike and pushed him back.

"So this is my anger?" said real Ash as he looked at red Ash with a blank face. Red Ash went for another strike and real Ash blocked it again but then was hit by a kick from nowhere, sending him crashing to the floor. Red Ash grew in size and his red glow became stronger.

"You are weak! You are pathetic! You are a coward! You broke your promise to Gardevoir, letting her get hurt again and by a bunch of pathetic losers! You let your pokémon down! You let them get hurt in the stadium attack! You are not worthy of being a trainer! You aren't worthy of having the girls love you! You aren't worthy of being an Aura Guardian! You let them get in harm's way! You never won a tournament or league! You make excuses to hide your short comings instead of owning up to them like a real man and trainer! You are a worthless piece of shit!" roared his manifested anger as he towered over real Ash.

The people watching were overcome with how much pressure Ash puts on himself to become better and succeed. They never knew that he viewed himself as unworthy or weak but they did know how he would always blame himself for what happened to others. The girls were unable to hold back anymore and were crying over what they saw as they kept their gaze on the memory sphere.

"I'm not the same as before and I did everything I could and that's all that matters!" replied real Ash from the floor with a bleeding lip.

"It's not enough! You are a lazy dumbass who never took anything seriously and always relied on others to help you through! You would always cause your friends to get lost! You would always attract danger to them! You never thought that it could be because of you that they're always in danger! You're an idiot and you aren't worthy of anything!" shot back angry Ash as he charged at real Ash.

Real Ash got up and defended himself against red Ash from his onslaught of punches and kicks. After a series of blocked and evaded strikes, red Ash found an opening and punched real Ash in the face, making him turn his head hard a bit as he spit out some blood. Right when Ash gathered his balance, angry Ash delivered a roundhouse kick to his side this time that sent him staggering away. Real Ash was able to compose himself in time to block red Ash's next strike and countered with a strike to his chest but the outcome wasn't what he expected. Instead of his manifested anger becoming hurt or weaker, he seemed to be energized by the strike. Each time red Ash was hit or delivered a strike against real Ash, red Ash grew larger and stronger. Soon enough, real Ash was attempting to fight against a behemoth red version of himself.

"This is what anger does to someone if left unchecked. It can grow into something ugly and destroy us if we let it consume us," advised Professor Oak sadly to everyone as they watched the memory while many nodded solemnly as they understood his words.

"Don't let him hit you and don't hit him!" advised Mewtwo.

"I know, I figured it out but what do I do?" asked real Ash as he dodged a large fist that was flying towards his head that the now giant red Ash threw. "I'll try talking with him like you suggested!"

Real Ash tried talking to the raging red giant version of himself but got nowhere. Red Ash was past words and kept trying to pound real Ash into the ground. Real Ash dodged several strikes until he messed up and knew he couldn't dodge the next punch so he braced himself for it. The punch hit his stomach but when real Ash didn't react to it by not striking back or even crying out, angry Ash shrunk a little, which both Mewtwo and Ash caught.

"That's it!" said the two together as they glanced at each other; the only way to counter anger is to just let it go, to not react to it.

Real Ash took a step forward towards the angry giant red Ash and was hit again by the raging copy as he braced for it. Real Ash didn't respond to that attack either and again red Ash shrunk. Each time angry Ash hit real Ash, who didn't react to the strikes and kept calm even though he was in pain, red Ash kept shrinking until he too was the size of a small Pidgey. When the small red Ash tried to attack real Ash again by kicking him in the leg, real Ash laughed, causing red Ash to explode in a puff of red smoke. The red smoke traveled through the air and merged with real Ash, who glowed red for a second before going away and his eyes glowed blue for a second afterwards. Again, he dropped to one knee as he panted for breath.

"Excellent Ash! You're anger is now in control as well. That leaves your jealousy and fear."

"Let's take a breather for a moment if possible and then we'll tackle jealousy," panted Ash, who sat on the floor, trying to catch his breath again.

"We can do that," replied Mewtwo. "Let's take a moment to relax."

Ash agreed as he rested on the ground and started taking long slow breaths before checking himself over for any serious wounds. Mewtwo kept the shield up, preventing the last two emotions from bothering them. The people watching the memory were thinking many different things as they witnessed Ash overcoming the first two emotions. They were glad that he was able to overcome two of his emotions quickly but were worried since they were getting harder to overcome. They didn't want to think about what could be coming next but when Ash stood back up a couple minutes later, their minds went blank as they turned their attention to it.

"Are you ready?" asked Mewtwo and Ash nodded.

The psychic feline's eyes glowed blue again and now green Ash was let through the shield who immediately charged at real Ash to tackle him, but real Ash dodged the attempt by rolling out of the way. Green Ash quickly got up and spun around as he tried to attack but was blocked. Green Ash feinted an attack and real Ash fell for it, moving to the side but was immediately tackled to the ground.

"OUF!" grunted real Ash as he hit the floor. He was then hit repeatedly on his body and face by green Ash while pinning him to the floor as the jealous version of him shouted.

"You brainless idiot! You let them go!" shouted green Ash, consumed with jealousy. "You let Misty go with Brock! How do you know they never did anything together?! You let May go with Drew! You saw how he was with her during your travels, always giving her flowers! You even witnessed Dawn talking to Paul and Kenny! How do you know she stayed faithful to you?! And you saw Serena hanging out with other guys! How could you miss the interest in her eyes?!"

Jealous Ash went quiet for a moment as Ash cried out in pain every time he was struck. He kept trying to deflect an attack and finally was able to counter a hit after getting struck a dozen times. He was able to roll out of the way but green Ash tore after him, throwing punches madly at him who kept trying to dodge as he attempted to counter attack whenever he saw an opening. Mewtwo wanted to intervene but knew he shouldn't, at least not yet as it wasn't dire yet.

The people watching were shouting out over the brutal beating and the four girls were shouting hysterically that they haven't, wouldn't and would never do anything to betray him. They all went silent when Green Ash continued speaking after tackling Ash to the ground again and started slugging at him nonstop once more.

"Cynthia complimented Paul's strength! You are not seen as a worthy rival to her but Paul is! She sees him as a strong trainer, not you! Tobias has legendary pokémon! Why him? You saved the world countless times! You helped the legendaries many times over! Yet they aren't helping you! After all you've done, you barely have a few with you! The other legendary pokémon who you risked your life for would rather watch from the sidelines than help you! Gary was always a step ahead of you, always winning while you kept coming up short! Leaf left you, not keeping her promise to travel together! She never liked you, even though you liked her! Even as kids, she'd rather join up with Gary and pull pranks on you and make fun of you than to spend time with you!" shouted green Ash as he continued to pummel real Ash into the ground, who cried out in pain from each connected strike that he failed to block.

Leaf's eyes widened over what she witnessed jealous Ash admit and so did everyone else when they turned to look Leaf. Misty, May, Serena, Dawn, Anabel, Cynthia and Sarah were shocked to learn that Ash had feelings for Leaf and if they were shocked, Leaf was beyond stunned.

He actually had feelings for me? How come he never said anything before? Wait that was a stupid question to ask, even in my head. Of course he didn't say anything before because I was a total bitch to him in the end before I left him and broke the promise. But…is there a chance…or….Is it too late to…

Leaf's thoughts were cut off when they heard a loud blast that came from the memory and everyone turned their attention back to the sphere. Real Ash had fired an Aura Sphere into green Ash's face, sending him flying back as he howled in pain from the blast before crashing to the ground. Real Ash took a few breathers, taking advantage of the opportunity as he stood up shakily. His manifested jealousy though quickly got back to his feet and straightened out though with some scratches. Green Ash glared at Real Ash who held his shoulder as he slumped over a bit with his legs slightly spread to stay balanced out before he spoke.

"You're right. I did have feelings for Leaf," admitted real Ash, causing everyone to become shocked and some even gasped at the revelation. "But that was a long time ago. She never had feelings for me like I had for her and that's okay. Who she has feelings for now and who she wants to be with is not for me to decide or anyone else except her. I will support her decision no matter what as I care for her still though and will protect her with my own life like I did before in the stadium. She is my friend and free to choose who she loves!"

Leaf let out silent tears as she thought about what Ash had said, about how he admitted that he liked her but was alright with her not liking him back. It sounded like he had moved on and forgot about her until they crossed paths at the Spirit Tournament. That sparked a new hope in her.

Maybe I do still have a chance. If he liked me before, then maybe now too?

The others glanced at her for a moment. The four girls noticed her sullen and teary eyed but then they all turned back to the sphere when they heard another blast; another Aura Sphere was launched by real Ash at green Ash who stumbled back in pain. Jealous Ash began moving towards real Ash to attack him.

"Leaf deserves to have someone who will always be there for her! Cynthia's opinions are for her to decide and I can only accept and move on. I don't care if I have legendary pokémon in my team or not even though I do! And I trust my friends! I know that they got my back!" roared real Ash as he threw another attack at jealous Ash who had tried to land a strike on him but instead was thrown back by the blast. "I trust the girls with my life! And I don't own them! They are free to live their own lives, to pursue their own dreams, to choose who they want to love! But I know that they have chosen me, that they love me and will never betray me and will always stand by my side as I will do the same for them!"

Ash's friends, even Leaf and Gary, had feelings of pride surge through them, hearing the raven haired guardian say that he trusts them all fully. Leaf stopped crying though a couple last tears kept rolling down her cheeks as she thought of what she did back at the hospital, making her feel worse for betraying his trust. The other girls looked at her for a moment before facing the sphere again. Cynthia was stunned hearing Ash speak such words and kept her gaze on the sphere showing the memory.

Real Ash powered up a ball of blue energy in his hands before he fired the Aura Beam that completely engulfed green Ash, who let out a shriek of pain before exploding into green smoke. The green smoke flew towards real Ash and merged with him, causing him to glow green for a second. A second later his eyes glowed blue and real Ash fell to the ground, breathing heavily.

"Well done! That's three down and one more to go!" praised Mewtwo, pleased that things were going along smoothly as he knelt down beside his friend and helped him onto his feet.

"Thanks. But I don't know how much more I can take," confessed Ash, trying to get some air back into his lungs and get his legs working again.

"You can do it. I believe in you," encouraged Mewtwo. Ash smiled a little before nodding his head and stood up straight while locking eyes with his friend.

"Let's finish this. Let's take care of fear," said Ash confidently. Mewtwo's eyes glowed blue and then yellow Ash was allowed to come closer as the shield Mewtwo had put up vanished, as there were no other formed emotions left.

"I'm not afraid," stated real Ash as he stood tall, his hands clenched into fists, facing yellow Ash. Yellow Ash looked around while hunched over, his eyes darting everywhere. He shook a little before he spoke.

"We can't win against the coming darkness."

That one sentence made a cold shiver run down Ash's back, shaking him and made him lose his nerve as he took a step back. Mewtwo noticed this and attempted to encourage his friend.

"Don't listen Ash! You have trained hard for three years! You have a plan! You have done many things in your life that most would say is impossible!"

"Doesn't matter," said yellow Ash timidly. "All of that is nothing compared to what's coming. You will lose everything that you love as the thing you dread and fear the worst will come to pass. No chance that you will win."

"SHUT UP!" roared real Ash as he quickly fired an Aura Beam at yellow Ash but the attack did nothing but bounce off of him. Everyone watching the memory cried out in shock that Ash's powerful aura attack did nothing to yellow Ash and even real Ash and Mewtwo were astonished.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA!" laughed a dark voice, echoing around them, causing everyone's hair to stand on end when they heard it.

"No…no…it can't be…not you!" cried real Ash into the air as he fell to his knees and Mewtwo's eyes widened as he heard the familiar voice. The psychic feline looked around them to find where the voice was coming from.

"Oh but it is me!" cackled the voice.

Yellow Ash was suddenly engulfed in a black glow and a large, horrible looking creature appeared, causing the viewers to shriek in fear. It was a large humanoid beast that was disfigured with a darkened red body with completely black eyes that glinted with malicious intent. Yellow Ash was encased in a yellow sphere and was merged with the creature, on its chest. The viewers groaned out in disgust over how gruesome and horrifying the creature looked.

"What have you done to his fear?!" demanded Mewtwo as he fired an attack at the creature who merely laughed as he disappeared, evading the strike before reappearing in front of them again.

"How are you still in my mind?!" asked real Ash, who was trembling on the floor as he looked at the horrible creature.

"HA HA HA HA HA! You're subconscious is a nice place to call home and conceal myself Guardian. It is because of me that your Gardevoir thought she was separating your emotions from your memories! What a life you have lived Guardian! Better than the best movies! I must say I'm actually impressed with what you've done. Yet, I wanted to see you in agony since you ruined my fun at the stadium. I decided to trick your pokémon into thinking she was bringing out your memories correctly so you can suffer! I watched your emotions torment you and that was entertaining until your abomination of a friend got himself involved. I was hoping to see your mind shatter but no, that didn't happen. So I decided to add a little bit of spice and make you suffer myself using your own fear against you," laughed the creature.

"You will not harm him!" roared Mewtwo, as he fired another attack but this one was deflected away.

"You cannot harm me clone since I control his fear! And welcome to your worst nightmare Guardian! One that you will never wake from!" cackled the creature.

The creature vanished with yellow Ash still stuck on the creature and the grey room's walls crumbled away to reveal a horrifying sight. But before anyone could get a good look at it, Mewtwo's memory sphere disappeared and he stood up abruptly.

"Wait, what happened next?" cried May.

"Why didn't you continue?" asked Serena.

"I shouldn't have done this. I shouldn't have showed you any of this but what's done is done. But I can't show the rest," admitted Mewtwo and all he received were glares from each person. "It is too horrifying; even I had problems seeing it before we were able to overcome it in the end."

"Please Mewtwo." The psychic feline snapped his gaze to the red haired girl, Misty. She had asked softly and was pleading. "It may be terrible, but we must know. I love him and so do the other girls and his friends and family love and care for him too. We want to know what his worst fear is so that we can help him if he needs it. You know he will never tell us himself."

"We would really appreciate you doing that for us," added Delia from the side with a hopeful look on her face as she looked at him.

Mewtwo stared at Delia for a moment before glancing at Misty, May, Dawn and Serena who nodded when he looked at them. He then glanced at the others in the living room who all gave him looks that clearly said that they wanted to know as well. The psychic feline sighed.

"Alright. Don't say I didn't warn you. You're probably not going to like it."

The memory sphere came back up and they continued watching. They saw the four walls of the grey room crumble down and revealed a horrifying sight. When each person saw it, they all gasped, some even crying out in shock.

Ash and Mewtwo were standing in the middle of a war zone. Several buildings were on fire while many others were destroyed or had crumbled down walls. Light posts and street signs had been broken in half or fallen on the floor. There were many different shaped holes and craters in the ground all over the place. Several cars were on fire, some even over turned and a few had crashed into buildings.

"NO! Did we let this…no…This can't…how can this happen?!" cried Ash as grasped his hair and pulled like a mad man, completely lost at what to do but then Mewtwo grabbed him and shook him.

"Snap out of it! This isn't real! We are in your mind Ash but we must be prepared! Don't let your guard down!" growled Mewtwo.

Ash pulled himself together and he nodded at his friend before the two slowly made their way down the street, looking at all the terrible things in front of them. As they walked further down the road witnessing all the damages done around them, they saw red shiny marks all over the place, from small puddles to streaks that seemed like it was dragged on the floor to being splattered around. Ash felt completely disgusted and felt shivers go down his spines. Mewtwo and Ash knelt down and studied the red marks closest to them.

"Blood." Mewtwo's statement made Ash whimper and everyone reacted in different ways to the revelation in the memory.

"But whose?" asked Ash quietly after composing himself as they got up and continued down the road. A moment later, Ash wished he never asked that question as they turned a corner into another street.

"Oh my Arceus…" whispered Ash.

There were bodies everywhere. Bodies of both humans and pokémon littered the area. The people watching the memory yelped in shock and let out sounds of disgust as they witnessed the carnage. As the raven haired guardian and the purple psychic feline slowly made their way through the massacre, they saw that the bodies of humans, both young and old and pokémon were completely decimated. Some of the bodies were those of friends and other people and pokémon that he knew. The terrible sights made the young guardian vomit after a few minutes after he witnessed the gruesome conditions the dead were in. They were cut up, others were shredded into pieces, being hung or impaled on something and some were even beaten to death guessing from all the black, blue and bloody bruises they saw on them while still others met other terrible fates. The memory viewers felt sick themselves and many had the urge to vomit, which they did after running to the nearby bathrooms before returning looking pale while others looked away or closed their eyes.

"Oh my Mew! Why is this your worst fear? Why would you even be worried about such a thing?" cried Delia. Nobody answered her for they didn't know what to say to comfort her. They continued watching in silence for a few minutes when suddenly they heard Ash cry out.

"NOOOOOOO!"

They saw Ash sprint down the road a bit before crashing down onto the ground in front of a large red dragon pokémon on the floor.

"What did they do to him?!" whispered Leaf in fear as most of the girls covered their mouths in horror taking in the terrible sight.

Charizard was dead on the floor. Both of his large wings had holes and tears in them but one of his wings was completely ripped off from his back and was on the floor next him. One of his horns on his head was broken off and used to stab his eye and was still there stuck in his eye hole. There were several large and nasty deep cuts into his belly that caused his insides to fall out and spread out onto the ground. A large puddle of dried blood surrounded the corpse of the red dragon.

"Why did they do this?! What could have caused this?! Who would do such a thing?!" cried Ash, as he placed his hand on the dragon's cold snout as heavy tears went down his face. Mewtwo appeared beside him and placed his hand on Ash's shoulder.

"We must continue Ash and find our way out. We must-"

"Look at Charizard! LOOK DAMN IT! I've failed Mewtwo! I let this happen!" cried Ash as he stood up and pushed off Mewtwo's hand, who gave a surprised look at his human friend. Before he could say anything, Ash tore down the street, running away from the psychic feline. Mewtwo let him be for a moment as he stared at the fallen dragon. Mewtwo felt great sadness and rage before he then levitated off the floor and followed after the young guardian. As he followed after the raven haired trainer by sensing where he was going with his psychic powers, he bared witness to many more gruesome sights regarding his friends as he pursued after Ash.

He saw Greninja hung from a light post from his own tongue, but it was the many stab wounds and arrows that were impaled all over his body that had killed him.

He saw Venusaur skewered and left to burn over molten lava, the large tree like flower on its back black and withered with his body charred from the intense heat.

He saw Lucario's body in the middle of the road with his hands and feet cut off, pools of dried blood on the ground around the stubbed limbs.

He saw Blastoise in a crater with his large shell smashed in, and his cannons were bent.

He saw Ninetales nailed to a building's wall from its tails, its fur gone showing skin and its mouth open.

He saw the carcass of Garchomp on the floor, his head chopped off and several feet away from its body, dried blood all over the ground surrounding the headless corpse.

He saw Infernape leaning against an overturned car with a hole clear through its chest, his heart on the floor near him along with many dried blood marks all around him, on the car and on the ground.

He saw Pidgeot with half of her feathers plucked, her wings bent and broken in odd angles with a sharp long blade that impaled her chest and out through her back as she laid on the ground.

He saw Sceptile's tail cut off and a couple of the yellow bulbs on his back shattered with his body hanging on the ledge of a broken window of a small shop.

He saw Tyrantrum lying on his side with his lower jaw broken in half at an odd angle with many gashes all over his body.

As Mewtwo passed each horrifying and gruesome slaughter of his comrades, his emotions were building and his fury was growing. He passed more of his friends, his family, who were long gone, imagining the cruel ways they were killed. The people watching Mewtwo's memory were disgusted, shocked and absolutely horrified of what they were witnessing.

"I don't know if I can watch anymore," confessed Iris, hugging Cilan as she buried her face into his chest.

"I don't think I can either but we must," said Cilan and Iris knew he was right. She reluctantly withdrew her head to keep watching but the two stayed in their embraced position.

"This is so bad," whimpered Bonnie, peeking through her fingers as she had covered her hands.

"Don't watch Bonnie! You'll get nightmares yourself!" Clemont warned his sister but made no attempt to move her away.

Mewtwo was just about to shout in fury after passing Zoroark's body that was under a large boulder when he spotted Ash on his hands and knees in front of two pokémon who were tied up and strung up from their arms, hanging from the light posts. When Mewtwo came closer, he saw who the two figures were. Lopunny and Gardevoir were hanging from ropes that were tied to their wrists at one end with the other end tied to the light posts. They were bloodied, bruised all over and had many deep cuts on them.

"They were tortured to death," stated Mewtwo in a whisper as his brow furrowed as his eyes glowed blue, consumed with rage.

"Gardevoir!" whimpered Misty.

"Lopunny!" yelped Sarah.

"What appalling sights!" yelped Ilene, shivering in her spot.

Gary, without thinking, tried to calm her nerves by grasping her shoulder. Ilene glanced at Gary over his action, but said nothing when he looked at her as she felt a bit better before his focus was on the sphere again. When Riley caught the Queen's eye, she shook her head slightly, signaling that she was alright. After a moment, Gary withdrew his hand and both of them kept watching.

"Mew…why would his nightmare be about something like this?" asked Cynthia but nobody answered her as they heard Ash.

"NOOOOO! Why…why is this happening? It wasn't supposed to be like this. We had a plan Mewtwo. We were supposed to prevent this from happening. How…How could we have failed?!" sobbed Ash until a sudden cry drew his attention before Mewtwo could answer.

"PIKA!"

Ash snapped his head to the right and saw a yellow mouse fighting against a large dark creature in the distance, dodging its attacks and returning his own attacks with bursts of electricity shot from the small pokémon at the one he was fighting against.

"PIKACHU!" yelled Ash as he got up and dashed towards his starter. "I'M COMING BUDDY!" he called out but after he took just a few steps, it was too late as Pikachu was engulfed by a dark beam of energy.

"CHUU!" cried out Pikachu as the beam of dark energy washed over him. The electric mouse felt the attack completely and painfully drain him of life before he dropped to the floor, dead.

"PIKACHU!" yelled Ash as he dropped to the floor as he came to an abrupt stop next to his starter pokémon and picked him up, cradling him in his arms. "Pikachu…wake up buddy…please…you can't die on me too…" cried Ash, shaking the yellow mouse a bit.

Everyone had tears in their eyes, watching the horrible nightmare but after seeing Pikachu die right in front of them made several people bawl loudly and scream out curse words as every single one of them knew him the best and were closest with him out of all of Ash's pokémon.

"He will not wake," said a horrible voice. Ash looked up with teary eyes and saw the disfigured creature in front of him, with yellow Ash in his chest and a large sadistic grin on his face. The creature was as large as a five story building now, having used Ash's fear to manifest death and destruction in the young guardian's mind to torture him while strengthening himself.

"You did this!" spat Ash through clenched teeth as his anger filled him.

"Yes I did. I'm surprised the rat was the last to go down. I thought it would be your Charizard or Lucario but they were too eager to avenge your fallen friends and that was their downfall," cackled the creature.

"You shall pay for this!" roared Mewtwo as he shot his Psystrike at the creature. Hundreds of psychic bullets shot through the air and hit the creature, bringing out a large dust cloud. After the purple feline finished his attack, the dust faded away to show the creature still standing with barely a few scratches. "Impossible!" exclaimed Mewtwo in disbelief.

"You are starting to annoy me clone. Be gone."

The creature smacked Mewtwo with his large hand with surprising speed for its large size that caught the legendary off guard since he was so stunned that one of his most powerful attacks barely did anything. Mewtwo was sent flying into the wall of a nearby building before falling down to the ground, barely conscious. He grunted, feeling extreme pain from all over his body after he hit the ground. He tried to get back up but quickly dropped back down while he panted heavily, trying to regain some strength. He had never been hit that hard in all his life. They were all shocked seeing Mewtwo go down for the count after just one strike from the horrible creature.

"I'm surprised he's still alive," commented the creature lazily. He turned his attention back to Ash. "As I was saying, I think I'll stuff the rat to be made into a trophy for me."

Even though he was afraid, the sight of his starter pokémon dead in his arms caused his anger to overpower his fear and squash it for the moment. Ash's eyes glowed blue and he snarled in response.

"I won't let you! You caused this and I will make you pay!" shouted Ash, standing up after placing Pikachu gently on the ground.

"No, it's your fault!"

A small voice was heard behind Ash, startling him. He whipped around to see his younger self but with four girls standing next to his younger version, who were in bad shape; they had bruises, cuts and scratches on them and their clothes were tattered and torn, revealing parts of their skin and body. The creature laughed, seeing his plan in motion to cause the guardian some serious agony. Real Ash stepped back a little as he took in the sight of his younger self and the four girls, his eyes losing their blue glow.

"Misty? May? Dawn? Serena? What happened to you?" whispered real Ash.

"You! That's what happened!" shouted kid Ash as he pointed at real Ash. "You left them to fend for themselves just like daddy did! You showed your true colors by abandoning them just like him!"

"NO! That's not true! I would never leave them! I was in training and then I came back. I told them-" started real Ash but was interrupted.

"Training?!" shouted Misty shrilly. "It doesn't matter what you were doing! You left me! You weren't here to protect me! Where were you when Tracey attacked me and took advantage of me?! You let him do that by not being there for me!"

"You promised you'll never let me go! But you lied! You let me fall to my death! I shouted for you to save me but you never did!" cried Dawn.

"Lysandre and his evil group kidnapped me! They tortured me and raped me! I kept praying for you to come find me but you never did!" screamed Serena.

"You left us behind as Phantom killed all of our friends and pokémon and took over the world's oceans! You saved yourself and we paid the price!" yelled May causing real Ash to fall to his knees, before he started hitting the ground with his fist as he began to cry.

"NOOOO! That couldn't have happened! I stopped all that…didn't I…This isn't what I wanted! This isn't what was supposed to happen. We had a plan. I was training to prevent all that! This isn't right! This can't be happening! It can't! I still had time! I did everything I could to help and protect everyone…"

"You're just like father!" shouted kid Ash and real Ash looked at his younger self through red and puffy eyes. "He abandoned us just like you abandoned everyone else! You let this happen! You let the girls get tortured and raped! You let your pokémon suffer horrible deaths! You let all your friends get killed! You let all the pokémon in the world get abused! You let the bad guys win! You let them cover the world in evil! It's all because of you!"

Real Ash cried harder at the revelation that all this was his fault as kid Ash vanished. Everyone was at a complete loss for words at what they were witnessing. As they continued watching, they saw movement coming from behind Ash. Black streams of energy went past him and connected to the four girls who let out shrieks and cries before they were covered in black spheres, silencing them. Before Ash could even react to what just happened, the black spheres exploded, revealing the girls who had transformed into corrupted versions of themselves. Their torn clothes vanished, leaving them naked but the dark glow outlining them obscured their bodies. The real four girls went red seeing themselves so revealed and everyone seeing them naked but let out sighs of relief when the view became distorted. But they noticed their skin darkened with noticeable red spots everywhere and they were changed into much more beautiful yet frightening versions of themselves. When the transformation was complete, the four memory girls glared at real Ash with black eyes, glinting with evil.

"What…what happened to you?" asked Ash in a horrified whisper.

"We have been allowed to be our true selves," replied May.

"We know who we truly belong to," added Serena.

"You were never good enough for us," mocked Dawn.

"I can't believe I waited for you when he can give us whatever we desire," finished Misty.

The four girls moved towards the creature and when real Ash tried to stop them, the four girls attacked, delivering lightning fast strikes against him, causing him to fall down in pain.

"Please…why are you…doing this? I love you!" cried Ash in between groans of pain as he reached for them with a shaky hand but the four girls laughed and the creature grinned sadistically.

"I told you Guardian that I will come for all you hold dear. I have kept my word. I have slaughtered your pokémon as you've seen with your own eyes. I have slaughtered your friends and family as well."

The creature had his pale black eyes glow with a shiny glint and many bodies appeared out of thin air and dropped to the ground around Ash, surrounding him. The raven haired guardian looked around with widened eyes, horrorstruck at what he was seeing, which consisted of many familiar bodies around him. He crawled to the body of a spiky haired man that was near him, gasping as he realized who it was.

"No…don't…Brock? No…please wake up!" Ash shook the body of his friend but it was no use. "NO! Why? You were like a brother to me."

Brock was beyond sad, crying heavily. He didn't like seeing his brother in such agony. Lucy hugged him from the side as she too cried seeing her boyfriend dead in the memory. Ash glanced around and saw Max's body, Cilan's body, Iris's body and several others. He lowered the body of his friend and moved to each of those bodies, hoping that one of them was still alive but each time he checked, he was met with disappointment and he sobbed harder over their corpses. Many people from the group were shocked to see themselves dead in the memory and some were so overcome that they made incoherent noises.

When he checked Gary's body and found him to be dead too, he shook his head in sadness and let out more tears before he noticed another body to his side. He moved towards it and found it was the body of Anabel and next to her was Leaf, Cynthia and Sarah. He drew in multiple quick breathes at once at the sight of their lifeless bodies and gently picked up Leaf and Anabel to him and held them close to him.

"Leaf…Anabel…" started Ash but he couldn't continue. He glanced at Cynthia and Sarah and let out a mangled cry. "Cynthia…Sarah...why…I'm so sorry…for failing you…so sorry…"

The people watching the memory were crying at the horrible sight. Leaf, Anabel and Sarah had dropped to their knees, bawling loudly at seeing themselves dead and realizing how much Ash cared for them. Cynthia remained standing but her face was covered in tears and her heart was beating wildly at the sight while her stomach was twisted into knots. They along with the others wanted it to end, they didn't want to see anymore and Mewtwo knew it but they had to see. They had to continue and he wouldn't let them stop, not now. They had asked to see it and now they needed to know of the anguish that his only human friend went through.

Ash cradled Leaf and Anabel in his arms before gently placing them back down onto the ground before moving to hug Cynthia and Sarah as well. As he did so the four corrupted girls and the monster laughed at him, happy at seeing him suffering, enjoying the sight of him in such a state. After Ash lowered them back down, he noticed another body nearby, making him take in a sharp breath.

"Mom?" whispered Ash. He moved towards the body and saw that it was indeed his mother's lifeless body. He gasped after realizing who it was and then he held his dead mother's head in his arms. "Mom?!" asked Ash again, shaking his mom a little. His dried out eyes filled up once more and soon hot and rapid tears fell down his cheeks again and dropped onto his mom's cold body. "MOM!" screamed Ash, crying loudly.

"ASH!" cried Delia before she stumbled backwards as she lost feeling in her legs and fell to the ground. Many people shot to her, including the eight girls, the mothers and Misty's sisters, helping her to get back to her feet, trying to console the now hysterical woman. Everyone was crying heavily now, seeing the torturous and gruesome actions of the creature causing Ash so much suffering and distress.

"I slaughtered your mother as well. Shame, she could have been fun and so could have the other girls but having these four beautiful girls you care so deeply for is much better. I have taken their love away from you as I said I would. I have beaten your pokémon. And now I have broken you! You have seen my powers! You have seen my strength! I told you that you cannot win! You have lost everything!"

The creature and the corrupted girls laughed at Ash, at his misery, at his fear, who cowered, curling up over his dead mom's body while crying loudly.

"ASH DON"T LISTEN!" roared Mewtwo from the ground, causing Ash to glance in his direction with a wet face. "YOU ARE STRONGER THAN THIS! DO NOT LET FEAR CONTROL YOU! THIS IS YOUR MIND THAT WE ARE IN! YOU CAN DO ANYTHING IN YOUR OWN MIND! AND YOU ARE CHOSEN BY ARCEUS FOR A REASON!"

Mewtwo's revelation made Ash's friends glance at one another, confused and surprised.

"Silence abomination!" ordered the creature and shot a dark ball of energy at the psychic who had just barely stood up. He shouted in pain when the attack made contact before falling back down onto the ground, groaning.

"MEWTWO!" cried Ash as he saw the purple feline fall back down.

Ash looked at Mewtwo for a moment who didn't move before he looked at the carnage around him, seeing his friends, his mom and his pokémon killed without mercy. His heart ached for each and every one of them, grief over whelming him yet his fear did not let him take action. He hugged his dead mother's head close to him.

"I'm so sorry Mom. I'm so sorry everyone," apologized Ash as he continued his sobbing. "Why? Why does everything that I love get taken away from me? I'm so sorry…"

"Too late for apologies Guardian. You have failed! You have lost! And now you will live out the rest of your pathetic life here trapped in your worst nightmare!" sneered the creature.

Ash's crying slowly stopped as his grief was so consuming that his fear faded away only to be replaced with anger. His rage built up inside him and it consumed him. He gently lowered his mom onto the floor before standing up, clenching his fists. His eyes turned blue and his aura flared out.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" roared Ash as he shot dozens of Aura Spheres from his hands against the creature who was struck by each one, causing smoke to cover the monstrous beast from the blasts. When the smoke cleared, it showed the creature unfazed.

"Impossible!" yelped Ash, fear gripping him once more as he stumbled back a bit from the shock.

"You haven't learned! You cannot hurt me Guardian! You are too weak! And especially since I control your fear! No matter how angry you become, you cannot hurt me as you still fear me and doubt yourself!" laughed the creature. "Here, perhaps you can fight and have a better chance against the girls you love so dearly!" suggested the creature and the four corrupted girls advanced towards Ash whose aura faded away.

"Don't listen to him! Please stop! I don't want to fight you!" pleaded Ash.

But they didn't listen and began to fight against Ash, who desperately tried to evade and block the attacks, not even attempting to hit them back yet several strikes still hit him, causing him to cry out in pain. The four real girls covered their mouths in shock, seeing their corrupted versions hurting the man they loved. A powerful sucker punch was delivered by May when Ash was distracted and landed against his jaw, sending the guardian to the ground, dazed. The four girls didn't let up and continued to strike the vulnerable guardian with punches and kicks as he shouted for them to stop.

"Oh my Mew…" whispered Anabel as she held her hands up to her face, unable to believe what she was seeing. Leaf and Sarah had shouted out for them to stop in vain while Cynthia couldn't even make a sound. Many from the group let out startled cries from the intense trashing that Ash was taking.

"That's enough for now girls," said the creature and the four girls stopped immediately and moved backwards towards the creature. "We don't want to kill our only source of amusement for the time being." The creature laughed and so did the corrupted girls. Ash was bleeding and battered, curled up into a ball on the ground. The creature had an evil smirk appear on his disfigured face but then a blue glow caught his attention as Mewtwo vanished from his spot. At first he became alarmed but then grinned again.

"Ah, this is perfect! You're beaten by the very girls you love, you're consumed by fear, you've lost everything and everyone and now your last ally has left you as well! I don't see the abomination anywhere! You are stuck in this nightmare inside your very own mind for all of eternity! HAHAHAHA!"

The creature and the four corrupted girls laughed at Ash again, who merely sobbed and groaned on the ground. A bright white light erupted suddenly from above and blinded everyone.

"What the…" started the creature, covering his eyes with his hands. "What caused this-AAAHHHH!" cried out the creature in pain as a loud explosion occurred after something struck him. The creature turned to face the source of the attack and his eyes narrowed. "YOU AGAIN!"

Mewtwo had reappeared and had fired a Thunder against the creature. His eyes glowed blue and snarled before he summoned hundreds of psychic bullets once more and shot them at the creature. The creature defended himself as the bullets hit him. After the last bullet hit, the creature lowered his arms covered with countless scratches, about to launch a counter attack but found Mewtwo to be flying towards him while covered in a large blue sphere. The creature had his eyes widen and he fired a bunch of dark spheres at the psychic who dodged many but some did make contact but the psychic feline kept maintaining his course, ignoring the pain he was feeling.

I must separate Ash's fear from him. It is the only way.

Mewtwo roared in anger and increased his speed to a blur of blue energy and before the creature could respond with another attack, Mewtwo slammed into the monster with unbelievable force, punching a hole straight through him while pushing yellow Ash out of the dark monster.

"AAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" roared the creature in pain, stumbling a bit until he leaned against a half broken down building nearby. It took a moment for him to recover enough to not be phased by the attack. He looked down at his wound and his eyes widened, realizing what the clone had done; he had separated the Guardian's fear from him. He snarled before turning around to strike the abomination but he stopped, frozen when he saw yellow Ash explode into yellow smoke.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed the creature, trying to attack them but Mewtwo brought up a shield to protect them, barely able to keep it up as he was so exhausted and injured. Yellow smoke flew through the air and merged with real Ash on the ground, who glowed yellow for a second before vanishing and his eyes glowed blue. The creature's wound healed over and he shrunk a little in size, though it was still monstrously big. Ash stayed on the ground for a few seconds before he was able to stand up and turned to his friend. He moved towards the legendary and placed a glowing blue hand on his shoulder, pulsing healing aura onto him. Mewtwo's injuries and exhaustion went away and Ash withdrew his hand.

"Thanks Mewtwo."

"You're welcome Ash. Are you ready?"

"Yes. It's time. Let's finish this," replied Ash, his aura emerging out from him and Mewtwo noticed Ash's eyes glowed a much brighter blue than he had ever seen before.

"I agree. Let's get rid of this monster," remarked Mewtwo and the shield went down. He and Ash stepped towards the creature and the four corrupted girls.

"You may have conquered your fear, but you will never escape this nightmare!" taunted the creature. "Attack him!"

The four corrupted girls jumped at Ash but he brought out an Aura Shield and the four slammed against it. They continued their furious assault though, striking the shield with everything they had. The raven haired guardian frowned, not knowing how to stop them without hurting them. Suddenly he got an idea as he thought of what the creature did to them. He concentrated and then let out four streams of aura energy from him that connected with each corrupted girl and when the connection was made, the girls let out high pitched screams.

"What are you doing?! STOP!" yelled the creature in shock as he witnessed the four girls slowly turn back to themselves. He attempted to strike them but was prevented from doing so as Mewtwo brought out a protective shield around them. When the four girls were finally transformed back to themselves, fully clothed somehow, the aura connections faded away and they smiled at Ash.

"Thank you Ash," said Misty.

"You freed us," replied Dawn.

"Better dead than alive as what we were," added Serena.

"We will always love you Ash. Remember that," finished May.

The four girls smiled at the raven haired guardian before they each fell to their knees and then to the ground, letting out sighs before life left them. Ash's aura died down and his eyes turned back to brown as he sank to his hands and knees. He moved to the four girls and picked up the four at once and hugged them. He hugged them tightly as rapid tears fell down his face and stayed like that for a moment as Mewtwo stood in a defensive position over them with the shield still held. Ash looked up into the sky, while letting out a heart shattering scream filled with misery and rage into the sky. Everyone watching felt their hearts skip a beat and felt goose bumps all over them at the scene.

"You killed them Guardian. I must say I wasn't expecting that. Perhaps you do have some darkness in you," taunted the creature, trying to regain dominance with his mind games.

Ash lowered his gaze onto the building sized creature, narrowing his eyes and glaring at the horrible creature with such a furious expression on his face that it even made Mewtwo flinch at the sight of it. He gently lowered the girls back onto the ground before letting out a snarl as he stood back up. Mewtwo lowered the shield as he sensed his friend getting ready to fight back.

"I would rather die than to hurt them. I didn't kill them. I freed them from your evil!" shot Ash as he concentrated his power while bringing his hands to his side. His eyes glowed blue and his aura blazed up around him, dancing madly as a blue sphere of energy formed in between his hands that slowly grew bigger and bigger.

"That won't hurt me! You cannot defeat me!" shouted the creature as he powered up his own attack.

Ash fired the Aura Beam and the creature fired his own beam of dark energy. The two beams of energy collided against one another and a power struggle ensued for a moment before the beams exploded and brought out some smoke between the two. Before the creature could attack again, another beam of blue energy shot out from within the smoke and it struck the creature, making him stumble back in agony. The creature looked down and saw a large bruised spot on his chest.

"How?!" cried the creature as the smoke cleared and showed Ash powering up another one as Mewtwo gathered energy. Ash may have healed him but he wasn't back at full strength and needed a little bit of time to recover.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS YOU UGLY SON OF A BITCH! I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!" roared Ash has he fired another Aura Beam and it made contact, causing another mark on the creature.

The creature grunted in pain and then launched several dark beams of energy at the guardian but Ash dodged them all except for the last one. He couldn't evade it in time and so brought out an Aura Shield as well at the last second while he continued to fire Aura Beams at him, striking the creature and weakening him as he defended himself. The viewers were both stunned and relieved to see him fighting back. Mewtwo looked on, astonished from what he was witnessing.

Even though we are inside his mind, his power shouldn't be this enormous. And he's able to both defend and attack at the same time. He was never able to do that before. Where is he getting his power from?

Mewtwo's thoughts made many watching the memory think about that as well, especially Riley as he had never seen, heard or read about an Aura Guardian being able to both defend and attack at the same time. Before he could think on that some more, his and everyone's attention was brought back to the memory sphere when Ash stopped firing and lowered his hands, taking a breather. His aura died down a bit as he started panting, but kept the glow around him and in his eyes. He looked at the creature that had sustained heavy damage from his attacks and was groaning in pain. The creature took a step back without realizing it before speaking again.

"You will never make me leave your mind. And even if you do manage that, I have yet to awaken and when I do my powers will be far stronger! You will not be able to protect them or save them! Darkness and corruption will rule over the world!" said the creature.

"You talk too much," remarked Ash simply as he glanced at Mewtwo who nodded, signaling that he was ready to finish things.

His aura intensified, his eyes glowed a brighter blue and his aura flared out powerfully once more. Much more than Mewtwo had ever witnessed before, surprising him. A small blue sphere appeared in his hands but grew larger and larger. The swirling blue energy sphere that was held in between his hands began cackling with white streaks of electricity flowing around it as he powered it up by his side. Ash was concentrating as much energy as he could into the attack. Mewtwo's eyes glowed blue as well and he started focusing his power into his attack too as a white sphere of energy glowed in between his hands as he kept it to his side as well. Ash glanced at Mewtwo again and the psychic feline returned the gaze. Both of them then faced the weakened creature who had widened its eyes at the sight of the two powering up.

"You will never succeed you bastard. You may have caused me agony, but you will never get the chance to do it to someone else! We will not let you hurt anyone, especially the people that we love and care about. You will not cover the world in darkness. You may awaken one day, but we will be ready. And we will face you. AND WE WILL DESTROY YOU, YOU FUCKING MONSTER!" roared Ash as he fired his concentrated Aura Beam and Mewtwo fired his concentrated Hyper Beam at the same time.

The Aura Beam was larger than they had ever seen Ash fire and Mewtwo's Hyper Beam was the same size as the Guardian's. Both beams struck the creature that had brought up his arms to defend himself but still howled in pain from the force of the attacks. Ash and Mewtwo constantly channeled more energy into their attacks and the beams kept growing in size. Soon the beams were as large as the creature and began pushing him back. The buildings around them began disintegrating from the sheer force of the beams and the ground was shaking as well.

"Incredible. Ash and Mewtwo are equals and their power is unbelievable," commented Oak. The others were too awestruck to comment back or remark to that statement as they too realized that his statement was true, bearing witness to the memory.

"You may erase me from your mind Guardian, but I swear when I awaken, I will destroy everything and everyone that you love and care about while making you watch!" promised the creature with a snarl.

"GO TO HELL!" roared Ash in response. He channeled all the aura he could put into his beam and Mewtwo copied his actions and did the same with his attack. Their beams became so large that it completely engulfed the evil being. The two energy beams slowly disintegrated the creature, erasing him from Ash's mind completely as it let out a final shrill cry of pain. Ash and Mewtwo finished their attacks and the beams disappeared into the distance before a large blue and white explosion was faintly seen. Ash's aura faded away and his eyes turned back to brown as he stumbled, about to fall down but Mewtwo caught him and held him up, though with a bit of difficulty as the psychic feline was feeling exhausted too.

"Finally. It's over," whispered Ash as he and Mewtwo supported each other to stay on their feet.

"That was impressive Ash. Your mind is yours alone once more. I do not sense anything even slightly resembling the creature. And your emotions are under control. I am proud of you, Chosen One."

Ash stood back up with the help of Mewtwo and looked up at his friend and saw him smiling, making him smile too.

"Thanks buddy." Ash straightened up and so did Mewtwo. "Do me a favor. Don't call me Chosen One." Mewtwo chuckled as he nodded his head. "Time to leave this place." The war zone disappeared and they were now standing near a cliff's edge looking out into the ocean all of a sudden.

"I will exit your mind now Ash. I will have you rest now and we will see each other in the morning. Everything will be fine and don't worry about what the future may bring as we will be ready to take it head on," said Mewtwo.

The raven haired guardian's right hand glowed blue as he raised it up and looked at his hand, covered in the blue glow. He clenched his hand into a fist as the blue aura swirled around it.

"I'm not worried anymore Mewtwo. I have my friends, my pokémon, my family, the girls and of course you by my side. I cannot and will not lose," replied Ash as Mewtwo smiled. The raven haired guardian looked over the cliff into the horizon and lowered his hand, the blue glow fading away from his hand and whispered a promise. "I will never give up and I will never leave anyone. The darkness will not triumph. I promise that I will not let that happen, even if it requires my life to make sure the world and all I love is safe."

The memory sphere faded away and Mewtwo stood back up soon after. He noticed that the group of people all had dried smudges on their faces from all the crying and some even had horrified expressions still on as well.

"I did warn you it will not be easy to look at," sighed Mewtwo, looking away. A soft hand grasping his made him glance at the person, and found it was Misty.

"Thank you Mewtwo for showing me what my love fears the most," said Misty. Before Mewtwo could say anything, Dawn came forward as well and placed her hand on theirs.

"You have shown me what Ash has been training to fight against," added Dawn.

"Much gratitude for showing how much he loves and cares for us," said Serena as she joined in as well.

"I know what his mission is now. To protect us all from such evil," finished May, copying them.

"My son is lucky to be able to call you his friend and ally," said Delia as she too moved forward and the girls made space for her. "You helped my son overcome his emotions and to fight off this evil creature that had invaded his mind. Thank you Mewtwo. You are a saint in my book. You are always welcome in my home and you are a part of the family."

Delia finished by giving Mewtwo a hug and friendly kiss against his cheek. Mewtwo reddened slightly but nodded his head. He glanced at the four girls and nodded at them too before turning his attention to everyone else.

"I must take my leave now to check on my comrades. Ash will awaken in the morning and I will return then to visit him and all of you. Goodnight everyone."

Mewtwo disappeared in a flash of blue and everyone looked at one another before deciding they should go to sleep since it was late at night, way past midnight. Cynthia thanked Delia for updating her and even though Delia offered her to stay the night, Cynthia politely refused, saying she had business to attend to as a Champion in the early morning and did not want to bother them. Cynthia bade them a good night and left right after. Clemont and Riley ended up sharing a room and Ilene and Bonnie took a room for themselves as well. Leaf, Anabel and Sarah wanted to go with the four girls and Delia when they checked in on Ash before going to sleep but thought it better that they don't as they didn't want to accidently start something then. The five entered Ash's room and found him sleeping peacefully with Pikachu curled up next to him on the bed as well as Gardevoir asleep on the bed next to him. Lucario was up, watching over them and noticed the five as they peeked inside.

"No need to worry. I will keep watch and let you know if anything happens," promised Lucario with a bow. The four girls and Delia hugged Lucario and whispered their thanks. The five moved towards Ash and Delia kissed his forehead.

"Goodnight my sweetie," said Delia before she moved away and the four girls each gave Ash a soft kiss on the lips as they wished him a goodnight.

"Goodnight my Pokémon Master," said Misty softly.

"Sweet dreams my Guardian," whispered Dawn.

"We will see you in the morning my Protector," added Serena.

"And we will help you get ready for your next match my Knight," finished May.

The five looked at Ash for a moment before leaving the room and when they reached the door, glanced back at the raven haired guardian before they closed the door. Lucario walked over to the window and took up a seat on the wide ledge, with one leg hanging down, the other bent to his chest as he stared out the window for a moment. He then turned to face the resting guardian.

I promised to help you with everything and anything Master and I still do. I will not let you lose the ones you love and care for so dearly. You deserve to be happy and to have love in your life because if anyone deserves it and has earned it, it is you. I swear on my life and honor that I will do all I can for you and them.

As Lucario watched over his Master while he slept, three girls were changing into their pajamas in their room and after brushing their teeth, the three got into bed. Right before the blonde girl out of the three was about to turn off the lights, she spoke to the brunette who had already lied down to sleep.

"Leaf…" Sarah waited until she looked at her, then glanced at Anabel who had propped herself up to listen before facing Leaf again. "Anabel and I won't say anything to him or the four girls but you need to come clean to him especially after what we found out. It's not fair to him or to anyone else," stated the blonde girl before turning off the lights and lying down on her bed, leaving Leaf alone to her thoughts as Anabel lowered her head back down onto her pillow.

"You're right Sarah. I will. I just hope he can forgive me for what I did," replied back Leaf after a few minutes of silence between the three in the dark.

Neither Sarah nor Anabel commented back but Leaf knew that they heard her. The three girls tightened their grip on their blankets as they thought of what they saw from Ash's and Mewtwo's memories. Each of them was thinking how much he had gone through in his life and they still couldn't believe it. Luckily though for them, even with so many things going through their minds, they were so exhausted both mentally and physically from the day's events that they soon fell asleep with dreams about the raven haired guardian that each of them had come to fall in love with and wished to be with.