"The attacker looks like me?!" Ash exclaimed frantically, standing up alongside Greninja and Lucario. Ippei stayed sitting, calmly listening as his younger brother rapidly spoke. "Yeah, but he's green, " Sanpei explained, cluing in Ash on who the attacker was. "That guy again," Ash whispered to himself, looking towards his Pokemon, who both nodded in understanding.
Ash wordlessly ran out of the room and into the main area of the building, leaving just Sanpei and Ippei alone in the meditating room. "Did you know about this, brother?" Sanpei asked Ippei, who still sat peacefully. "No," Ippei responded blankly. "I only detected an evil threat, which Ash is already aware of."
Sanpei sighed and nodded, sitting down next to his brother. "Shouldn't we go help them protect our village?" Sanpei asked Ippei, wondering why he still hadn't moved despite the circumstances. Ippei shook his head and responded, "No. If we mingle with this attack, then Ash and his Pokemon won't get stronger together." He turned to Sanpei, who stared back. "It'll help them be able to fight against Zygarde," he said.
Sanpei looked away for a moment, then shook his head. "No, I can't just let this happen," he said, standing up and turning towards Ippei. "I don't care if Ash needs to get stronger, I just want to protect the village," he said confidently, running out of the room and towards whatever was occurring outside. Ippei hid a smile as he watched his younger brother run to defend his hometown, proud of his intuition.
Running out of the room, Sanpei saw Ash and Sycamore talking to each other, both grabbing their Pokeballs to fight against the clone of Ash. "Ash!" Sanpei exclaimed, running over to the raven-haired trainer who was getting ready with Greninja and Lucario. "Coming to help, Sanpei?" Ash said, tightening his gloves on his hand. Sanpei nodded and closed his eyes for a moment, searching for something.
"What's happening?" Sycamore whispered to Ash, who smirked and had a feeling that he knew what was about to show. Sanpei opened his eyes and a cloud of smoke appeared next to him, revealing his own Greninja, ready to fight. "Hey, Greninja!" Ash exclaimed, walking over to Sanpei's Greninja to give it a small fist bump. Ash's Greninja walked over and stared at Sanpei's both eyeing each other in mutual respect.
"Ash, I would help, but since Garchomp was taken by that clone out there, I can't do much," Sycamore explained, showing his empty Pokeballs. "You can help protect our people," Sanpei suggested. "Just get them to safety and you'll be helping out a lot," he said. Sycamore nodded and ran out of the building, looking to help any villagers.
"You ready, Ash?" Sanpei said, pulling a mask over his face. "Yep," Ash responded, Greninja and Lucario right behind him. "Never been more ready to help," he added, facing towards the open door where he could hear explosions from the attacker. Ash and Sanpei both opened the doors and ran out, being surprised by what they saw.
It was Squishy; Ash knew it was because of the color of the red design on his neck. He was in his ten percent form, however, which shocked Ash as he didn't realize that the people who had stolen Squishy could truly manipulate and harness his power. "Ash is that Squishy?!" Sanpei exclaimed, having to yell over Ash's clone ordering an attack on a nearby empty tent.
"I think so!" Ash responded, instantly turning to Greninja and Lucario to order an attack. "Greninja, use-!" Ash began, getting cut off by Greninja grabbing some Water Shurikens and tossing them at Squishy, causing him to be hindered slightly. Why did Greninja attack before I finished giving an order? Ash thought to himself, not understanding as Greninja sprinted back to where he stood before, ready to attack again.
He brushed it off and turned to Lucario. "Lucario, use-!" He began commanding, stopping again as Lucario charged up his Aura Sphere and sent the orb flying towards Squishy, causing him to get knocked back and causing Ash's clone, also known as A, to fall to the ground. Ash turned to Lucario in surprise, watching him put his arms to the side after the attack. It happened again! Ash thought to himself in shock. And it's the exact moves I wanted them to use! But how?
Sanpei noticed the lack of speaking when Ash was commanding a move and looked over in curiosity. "How do they know what moves to use?" Sanpei asked Ash, who didn't know himself. "I don't know," Ash said, staring at Greninja and Lucario, who both thought that Ash had simply vocalized his command normally and were unaware of the phenomenon that had just occurred.
"I think your Aura connection is so strong that they're almost instantly obeying your commands," Sanpei exclaimed with understanding. Ash's eyes grew as he realized what Sanpei was saying. "Is my connection strong enough to do that?" He whispered to himself, staring at the two Pokemon before him; the sight only reminded him of the conversation he and Ippei had in the meditation room.
While this was happening, A was recovering from the hit and was mounting Squishy once more. "That won't stop me!" He exclaimed, causing Ash and Sanpei to defensively turn towards him. "I'm going to take you down so that you won't interfere with my master's work!" A yelled vindictively, almost with a similar passion to Ash himself. "Why do you look like me?!" Ash yelled, ignoring the threats that A had promised.
A shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing for you to know," He responded with malice. "Not like it even matters," he added, preparing to command Squishy to send another attack. Ash and Sanpei stood their ground, waiting for the next move. They heard footsteps running behind them and turned around, seeing Sycamore sprinting to their location. The professor ran in front of the two young trainers with an angry and revengeful look on his face.
"Why did you steal Garchomp!" The professor yelled, demanding to know the reasoning for the disappearance of his closest Pokemon. "Garchomp?" A responded in a confused manner. "Yes! You broke into my lab and stole her from me!" Sycamore roared back, his anger rising by the second. A's face suddenly lit up and he started cackling evilly.
"Oh! You're talking about our test subject," A said, realizing what Sycamore was talking about. "She's currently under our control and will be used to stop him," he explained, pointing his finger at Ash upon saying the word. "That'll never happen!" A retorted, stomping in front of a seething Sycamore. "We'll stop you from hurting anyone!" He yelled with passion.
Ash heard a gasp from behind him and saw Sanpei, staring in awe at Ash. "What?" Ash asked, not understanding why Sanpei was gawking at him. "Your...thing," Sanpei stuttered, pointing at Ash's Mega Ring, which was now glowing. "What the-?" Ash began saying, looking over at Greninja, whose Mega Scarf was also glowing by the end of it. "Gren!" Greninja exclaimed, grabbing the end of the scarf and staring at the stone on it.
"Ash!" Sycamore exclaimed, causing Ash to look over. "That means you can mega evolve with Greninja! Your bond and passion must be strong enough to trigger a response!" He explained as A began charging up Squishy's attack. Ash nodded at Sycamore and turned to Greninja, who nodded at Ash in understanding.
Suddenly, it felt like all time had stopped. It was only Ash and Greninja, breathing calmly as their mind and heart became one, causing the Mega Gear to shine brighter and brighter. "Let's fight together!" Ash exclaimed, feeling a surge of energy as the light around them grew brighter. "Stronger, together!" Ash didn't know whose voice that was, but he looked at Greninja, who seemed to also hear the voice. "Let me help by being stronger together!"
There it was again. Ash and Greninja looked around confusingly, trying to find the source of the voice. A surge of energy suddenly filled up both Ash and Greninja's bodies, which only meant one thing. Who else is here? Ash thought to himself, trying to find the extra being in the transformation.
He wasn't able to find them, however, as the transformation was completed and caused the light to fade away, revealing Mega Ash-Greninja. The appearance was the same as it was in Sycamore's Lab, with the extra bits of red and additions that added to its strength. "Remarkable!" Sycamore exclaimed, momentarily forgetting the dangerous situation they were in.
"What... is that?" Sanpei said out loud, dropping his guard for a moment while he stared at Mega Ash-Greninja. "Just a little something to help protect you guys!" Ash remarked with a toothy smirk on his face. Ash turned back to Greninja and stared at him, understanding his thoughts and feelings, including the cautiousness that resulted from the extra voice in the transformation.
"Now! Destroy them!" A suddenly exclaimed, causing Ash and Greninja to snap their head back to Squishy, who was releasing a large ball of green energy right towards the group. "Oh no, you don't!" Ash angrily exclaimed, manifesting in his head exactly what he wanted Greninja to do. A shuriken began forming in Greninja's hand, with Ash mimicking the motion of charging the shuriken. "They're on the same wavelength!" Sycamore exclaimed, forgetting again the situation they were in.
Ash and Greninja continued charging the shuriken as the ball of energy slowly made its way toward them. Just a little more, Greninja! Ash thought in his mind, struggling as he charged the shuriken past its normal size, causing it to become golden. "Now!" Ash yelled, sending his hands outward, mimicking Greninja who was also sending the shuriken right towards the ball of energy.
From A's perspective, he could only see a large, golden shuriken headed towards him and Squishy's way. It outclassed the ball of energy in every way, up to its size, strength, and speed. For some odd reason, A wasn't concerned about the large projectile headed towards his way, but more so about the look that he saw in Ash's eyes as he sent the shuriken towards him.
It was one of intense and powerful determination, sprinkled with love and hope that couldn't be rivaled. As he started directly at Ash's auburn eyes, he saw another emotion that seemed new and fresh, but familiar; pain. There was pain that seemed unfamiliar in Ash's eyes, yet A swore he could've seen it before in a mentor figure. A audibly gasped as a thought that seemed too unlikely to be truly formed in his head, causing him to be distracted as the shuriken disintegrated the ball of energy, unfazed from the contact.
Making contact with Squishy, the shuriken sent A flying off of the Pokemon and into the sky, causing him to be brought back to reality and an understanding of his predicament. His mission was to stop Ash from getting any further in strength or closer to Serena, but something stopped him from wanting to continue it.
He shook his head as he soared in the air and pulled out the device that would teleport him back to his master, a person who he would have so many questions for and one person to discuss; Ash.
Not to discuss power or threat to his master's plans, but to talk about why he was so interested in Ash. Something about the way his master treated him was similar to a father, so it only made him wonder as he stared directly into Ash's eyes just then. He had seen too many similarities for it to be a coincidence. A had a gut feeling, and he was going to find out if this theory of his was true. If it was, it could quite possibly change everything he had ever seen or heard.