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Part 2 right at ya! Hopefully Part 3 won't be too far behind!

***

Eike ran through the hilly pastures outside of Viridian City, going so fast he felt like he could fly. A shadow passed overhead, roaring victoriously. Charizard landed unceremoniously in front of him. Eike slowed and clamped his arms around his beloved pokémon's neck.

"You did a great job!" He congratulated his friend, patting him on the head. Charizard seemed to beam. Their training was going very well. They were now undefeated against the last ten trainers they had come across.

Their training had taken them all over Pokémon Land since he had won his battle against the Kanto Elite Four. They had worked hard to make it to the top, but their job still wasn't over. There were more Pokémon Leagues to battle, and more importantly, more game worlds to save from being hacked.

Before them was a cave. Deep and dark, few people had even ventured into its depths. There was a rumor though, that very powerful pokémon make this cave their home.

Charizard looked to Eike curiously. Eike just stared into the dark maw in the mountain face.

"Do you think we're ready to push ourselves to the limit?" Charizard grunted in agreement. They nodded to each other and walked into the darkness...

***

"Is that all you got, twerp?" Meowth snapped Eike back into the present. His face darkened. This fight wasn't fair. It was time to even the odds...

"I'm just getting warmed up!" He threw two poké balls out onto the arena floor. In a flash of light, a Pikachu and Lucario appeared. The fighting/steel type Lucario assumed a fighting stance, sizing up his opponents. The almost infamous electric mouse type Pikachu cried out angrily; sparks from his cheeks skipping out across the sopping wet floor.

"Ooh, look, it's a Pikachu!" James said giddily.

"Indeed. If we were to bring that Pikachu to the boss, he'd be very pleased!" Jesse piped up.

"Youse numbskulls! That was our old boss! Our new boss don't care about no Pikachu!" Meowth proceeded to bludgeon his comrades across the head with an oversized paper fan he had pulled form behind his back, while the two protested loudly.

"Hey!" Eike hollered. "You gonna fight, or give up?"

The three Rocket members recomposed themselves quickly. James was the first to call out, "Mime Jr., use Safeguard!" Mime Jr. obediently braced himself.

Eike smiled. "Not this time. Lucario, use Brick Break!" Lucario nodded and rushed at Mime Jr. He drive his steel-backed fist right through Mime Jr.'s defense, sending the diminutive pokémon flying across the arena, crashing into the far back wall, unconscious. James cried out in shock at the brutal attack, as he scurried to collect his fainted pet.

Jesse called out to Wobuffet, "Do something!" Wobuffet saluted obediently and used Counter. What he was trying to counter, no one knows, because he just sat there, still wobbling slightly from the Surf attack earlier in the fight. Jesse pulled at her long red hair in frustration.

Pikachu jumped into action, calling a Thunder attack down from above. The entire arena lit up like a fireworks show, arcs of electricity carrying along the puddles of water and the dripping wet Wobuffet. He withstood the attack, but only barely.

"Good try, Pikachu! Great work!" Eike cheered his pokémon on. Lucario and Pikachu are a dynamite team together. He had a lot of confidence in his team, they had all worked very hard to get where they are today.

James stumped back to his position cradling his fainted Mime Jr. He glared up suddenly at Eike. "Carnevine, it's your turn! Go!" He hurled another poké ball into the arena. The gangly plant pokémon appeared, its large flytrap shaped mouth blathering its name as it rose up on its roots, beady eyes staring at its foe.

Eike looked to Lucario. "Lucario, cover me, while I use a Revive. Pikachu, I want to you finish off that Wobuffet!" Both nodded at him. Lucario leapt in front of Eike so he could work unimpeded.

Pikachu leapt forward, running as fast as he could. The sparks that erupted form his cheeks grew in intensity and erupted into a shower all around him. He dove at Wobuffet full force, driving his Volt Tackle into Wobuffet. Wobuffet must have seen the attack coming and prepared his Mirror Coat defense. Too late. Pikachu had bowled him over and knocked him out cold. Jesse coldly recalled the downed creature.

Carnevine took the opportunity to leap at Lucario, ready to fight. Lucario stood at the ready as a Constrict attack ensnared him in the creature's long, prehensile vine-like limbs.

Eike was busy taking care to open up a small star-shaped phial from his belt pouch. In his hand was Charizard's poké ball. He broke open the top of the delicate item and poured it into the poké ball and waited to see if it worked.

***

Viridian Cave was much deeper, and wetter, than Eike had expected. He and Charizard had battled long and hard, and had worked up a considerable sweat. Now, near the bottom of the cave, stood a pokémon neither had seen before. It looked vaguely alien in nature, it had a pale blue/purple skin, three rounded fingers on long arms, its long purple legs were feline in nature and it had a long tail as well. It had a piercing gaze that seemed to look not just at Eike, but at his very thoughts, at his very soul.

"What kind of Pokémon is that?" Eike asked more to himself than to the creature. It responded with a single word. It didn't speak it, but Eike heard it in his mind.

"Mewtwo."

Mewtwo looked pretty dangerous, especially to be so close to Viridian City. But Eike saw this as an opportunity. Pokémon like this were the creatures of legend. There would never be another chance like this. He got his crowning prized item ready... The Master Ball. No way would he give this one the opportunity to escape.

"Charizard, you ready? Go!" Eike and Charizard both rushed the Psychic pokémon, ready to capture him...

***

"There, all better," Eike put away Charizard's poké ball, his friend revived.

He looked up to reassess the situation. While Lucario being constricted was a problem, he was of a strong type against the plant monster. Pikachu was back on Eike's side of the arena, on all fours, ready to charge again. One good thing about his Pikachu, he hardly ever needed to be given an order. The two of them thought, and fought, as one.

Jesse tossed her next companion into the battle, a Yanmega. Yanmega was a Bug/Flying type that resembled an enormous dragonfly. Eike had never seen one before. It was very large and loud, sounding more like a helicopter than an insect. The good news was that it is a Flying pokémon, the bad news is that, if it was like its pre-evolution Yanma, is probably much faster than Pikachu, and will only get faster as the battle continues.

Just as he had expected, Yanmega was ready to go. Its red eyes glowed brightly, summoning its Ancient Power attack. The arena shook violently, even rocked, as rocks burst through the floor and ceiling, hovering around Yanmega for a moment, then flew towards Eike and his team!

"Lucario, now! Counter!"

Lucario ripped free of his bonds and leapt into the fracas, carefully and precisely punching the falling boulders back to Yanmega. Several rocks did fall past him, a few hitting Pikachu, who tried to stop the larger remaining rocks from hitting Eike directly.

Eike looked down at Pikachu, clearly hurt from protecting his master, and dropped to his knees in front of him.

"You ready to finish this?" Pikachu nodded. Eike smiled and Pikachu took off towards Carnevine.

"Iron Tail!"

Pikachu leaped extraordinarily high in the air and somersaulted. The sheen of metal could be seen as the electric mouse "dropkicked" Carnevine with his tail. The viny pokémon slammed to the arena floor, a red gash opening across its face. It didn't get back up. Pikachu bounded back to Eike, his mission accomplished.

"Great Job Pikachu," Eike commented.

Eike looked up as a shadow overtook his team. Yanmega had prepared another Ancient Power attack, this time one massive boulder, already falling towards them. Pikachu, reacting instinctively to protect his master leapt forward to cushion the blow. He took the full force of the shot, barely deflecting the attack from hitting Eike. Pikachu thumped to the ground, already unconscious.

Lucario pulled his hands together, gathering his aura into a ball of energy. As the sphere grew in size, the lights in the arena seemed to dim a bit. Soon it seemed the only light coming from the entire facility was from that energized orb. He raised the globe high over his head.

"Aura Sphere!" Eike commanded. Lucario happily complied. He hurled the sphere at Yanmega. The oversized insect tried to quickly dodge, but the Aura had already found its mark. There was a colossal explosion in the air over the arena, and the lights winked out, leaving everyone in the dark for a moment.

A few silent seconds later the pop and sizzle of the fluorescent lights was heard and light slowly returned to the chamber, showing three fainted pokémon and Lucario, panting slightly from the power of his last attack.

Jesse and James were less than pleased. They growled deeply.

"This little twerp thinks he can beat Team Rocket!" Jesse cried out.

"Good thing we were just getting warmed up!" James added.

Both of the Rockets and Eike retrieved their fainted companions, returning them to their poké balls. James threw out his third pokémon, Jesse looked to Meowth.

"Meowth, get in there!" Meowth looked incredulously back to Jesse.

"There's no way I'm goin' in there! Use one of your other pokémon!"

"The boss said not to use those unless we had to, and you're technically--"

Meowth scratched her across the face and folded his arms, sitting down. Jesse was furious. Eike could feel the anger all the way across the arena. She knocked him over and proceeded to kick and stomp him in a fit. The shock on Eike's face was obvious.


"Hey! How could you hurt a pokémon like that! He won't fight for you because you haven't earned his respect! What kind of a trainer are you?!"

Jesse shot a death glare at Eike and grabbed a poké ball from her belt, throwing it out into the fight. The bright flash that came out was very long, very serpentine and all too familiar to Eike. As the energy took shape, Eike muttered the name of the legendary pokémon...

"Rayquaza..."

Eike remembered the last time he had seen Rayquaza. It was when he first met Captain N. They were in the real world. Eike thought it was a wild pokémon. Clearly something has changed. There is only one of them in all of Pokémon Land as far as he knew. So that must mean...

"Wait, who does that Rayquaza belong to?"

Jesse smiled malevolently. "Not that it’s any of your business, but this pokémon happens to have always belonged to our new boss, Hacker. He let us borrow some of his best so we can stop you here and now!"

Eike felt insignificant in the presence of the monster before him. Does this mean that this Rayquaza was under Hacker's control when it attacked the Real World?

Even James' Cacnea looked insignificant by comparison. Seeing the other pokémon brought him back to the present. He pulled out another poké ball from his belt and threw it into the arena.

"Back in the game, Charizard!" Charizard re-emerged from his poké ball. He certainly wasn't at full strength, but he was good to go for now.

"Cheater! Cheater!" James cried out in a frail voice. He knew that Charizard was taking aim at his poor Cacnea.

Eike grinned darkly. "Afraid you're going to lose?" He snapped his fingers and Charizard nodded. He reached down with his clawed hands and ripped up one of the fallen boulders from earlier in the fight.

"Rock Throw on Rayquaza!!" Expertly Charizard complied with the command, hurling the boulder at Rayquaza. The flying/dragon pokémon was not quite agile enough, and the stone found its mark, smashing into the creature's cheek. It roared in frustration and opened its mouth wide, preparing its Hyper Beam attack.

Lucario stood in front of Eike and prepared his Aura Sphere again. The two attacks grew with an intensity so fierce that the pressure in the enormous arena became stifling and close to the combatants. Both attacks shot off at the same time, and detonated. The light was so bright; Eike found himself shielding his eyes for the second time in this battle.

***

"I'm going to catch you!" Eike declared while running, closing the gap quickly between him and the Legendary Pokémon, Mewtwo.

Eike suddenly found himself unable to move, paralyzed in place. Mewtwo stared at him and Charizard, emotionless. Everything fell silent. The adrenaline still coursing through his veins, blood pumping in his ears subsided, even the waterfalls seemed to grind to a halt mid-fall. Everything took on an ashen gray look, except for Mewtwo anyway. The Psychic pokémon turned slightly to reveal another person was in the chamber with them.

Clad in a red head wrap and scarf, garbed on one side in heavy plate mail and the other side in loose fitting linens, Eike recognized him immediately and his heart sank to the pit of his stomach. Hacker. He walked up to Eike nonchalantly, circling Eike slowly, almost like he was sizing up a used car.

"What are you doing here?" Eike managed to spit out.

Under the red cloth covering his face, he could see Hacker smile widely. It wasn't a pleasant sight. Any time Hacker smiled, it was bad news for the person he was smiling at.

"Doing a little training today?" He asked far too cheerily. Eike's heart froze over at its new resting place somewhere between his stomach and colon.

"I'll be happy to fight you another day. Right now, I have a pokémon to catch."

Hacker placed his armored hand heavily on the trainer's shoulder. "No, you don’t."

He circled again, like a shark about to strike. The trails of his scarf trailing behind smoothly. All Eike could do was watch and wait for the end.

"I have plans for Mewtwo, and he has plans for Videoland. Don't you, Mewtwo?"

The pale Pokémon nodded curtly before replying psychically, "The humans must pay for making the mistake of creating me. For the experimentation, for meddling too far into the affairs of pokémon!" Mewtwo's eyes glowed fiercely for a moment.

"I have agreed to help him. In return, he will help me with a... project I have undertaken at my stronghold." Hacker spoke slowly, taking his time, toying with his prey. Eike could hardly stand it. The adrenaline was pounding again. He wanted to hit him. He saw Zero do it once. He knew it could be done. But that was Zero. Eike was just Eike. In his own world, a Hero. In the rest of Videoland, he was just another 12 year old kid with an affinity for having monsters do his fighting for him.

"I bet you want to hit me, huh?" Eike's eyes widened. Could he read minds? "I bet you do. In a fair fight, you might be a formidable opponent. But I don't like to keep things on the fair side. It makes my job more difficult."

"What job might that be?" Eike sputtered.

Hacker just grinned again. Eike suspected he had shark teeth for a moment. The villain took a few steps back and stood next to Mewtwo.

"Good to see you, Eike. Take care of yourself, and the Captain too. I wouldn't want to see her hurt." A portal opened behind him. Mewtwo stepped through, disappearing into the vortex.

"Oh, one more thing. If you tell anyone about this...” He made a slicing motion across his throat. Eike gulped.

"You get the picture. I'm sure you'll comply to my simple request."

With that, Hacker stepped through the portal. With a whoosh, the portal closed. Eike was suddenly snapped free from his invisible prison, and tumbled gracelessly to the damp floor. The roar of the waterfalls nearby resumed and Charizard regained his footing.

"We're in some trouble, my friend." Eike prepared an Escape Rope from his bag. He had to get to the Palace of Power right away and somehow find a way to warn Captain N about what happened."

***

The light faded. Lucario and Rayquaza both somehow remained standing, or flying as the case may be. The pressure had lifted somewhat from the room. The battle was starting to get intense again; Eike was beginning to sweat nervously. It took the whole N Team to bring Rayquaza down last time. Even with two of his best pokémon out there, he wasn't confident of his chances.

Cacnea flailed its arms wildly at Charizard, using its Pin Missile attack. Most of the poisonous darts bounced off of Charizard's hide, who was more annoyed than hurt.

"I'm not playing around any more with you creeps. I have to go save the Captain!"

Eike leapt back away from the arena floor. Charizard roared fiercely, flames licking the sides of his mouth. The flame on his tail surged upwards as he readied his massive attack.

"Burn them down, Charizard! Blast Burn!"

The arena burst into flames. The force of the blast pushed everything back as a shockwave of flames engulfed the entire arena floor and arcing into the empty bleachers above. If this were in an actual sanctioned battle, there would be a force field in place to protect the onlookers. This was not sanctioned battle. After all, Hacker didn’t like to fight fair.

Cacnea had nowhere to go to get away from the all-engrossing attack. It erupted into flames like a dried Christmas tree and burned twice as brightly. What was left of the poor cactus creature returned to its poké ball in a flash of light. James was right to fear Charizard, with his affinity for plant and poison pokémon.

Lucario didn't look so good. His weakness to the fire attack was taking its toll. Since Rayquaza was recharging from his Hyper Beam the arena was more-or-less safe to traverse at the moment, so Eike ran up to his pokémon. His sneakers sizzled as he crossed the arena floor. He pulled out a Max Potion from his pack and proceeded to restore his companion's strength.

"Meowth, get in there!" James yelled at Meowth, towering over the pouting feline.

Meowth opened one eye and trained it on James. "An' what makes you think I'll listen to you either? Do youse want a matchin' pair of scratches?" He reflexed his claws reflexively. James blanched a bit at the thought and wilted from his verbal assault. He nervously pawed at one of the poké balls at his belt and hurled it onto the arena floor. It did not open.

Everything paused for a moment as everyone stared at the dud ball on the floor.

"Wha--? Why do I get the fake one?" James cried forlornly.

The ball swayed back and forth for a moment. Everyone, pokémon included moved closer to look at it. Suddenly the ball burst open in a flash of light.

What emerged was form without substance, an ever-changing view of nothingness and void. Free floating energy coursing through its almost shapeless self. This pokémon, if it was such a thing, tore at the fabric of reality, if not sanity as well. A creature of chaos and raw power. How did it end up in this poké ball?

Jesse and James were more scared than anything else, clinging to each other and shaking in place. Eike backed off warily, as did Charizard and Lucario. They sensed this creature for what it was. Terror, suffering, possibly the very face of death itself, if such things had a face.

One word came to Eike's lips. There was only one record of this creature in all of Videoland, but even then, it didn't have very much information other than it nearly destroyed Pokémon Land once before long ago. When he had heard about it when looking at records in the Palace of Power, he refused to believe in its true existence.

"Missingno." The Hacked Pokémon. No type, no weakness, Limitless ability, limitless power, capable of powerful, horrible things if controlled. And Hacker had it. The Battle was over for Eike and Team Rocket. The battle to save Videoland from turning on itself and being consumed by this monster was just about to begin.


***