"So it's come down to this."
Cyrus' face was blank, no emotion readable but this wasn't any different to how he usually portrayed himself. He reached for his final pokeball, tossing it into the air, catching it with his other hand.
"This is the final test of your strength, Aaron."
At that, Cyrus released his final pokemon. There was a burst of dark purple light, a shockwave at the release of the last pokemon who stood between my opponent and I.
As the light faded, I felt a huge psychic presence looming in the distance across the field. My eyes adjusted, seeing a pitch black skinned pokemon floating in the air, soaking in the emptiness of the void. There was a bright orange appendage jutting from its right shoulder, the tip of its tail matching in colour. The pokemon's eyes glowed a faint purple, quietly focused on where I stood.
"Giovanni and I worked tirelessly to create the perfect pokemon, each time failing to produce absolution. Silvally's complete form comes close but nothing compares to the strength of Mewtwo in its shadow form!"
Dragonite took a step forward, ready for the fight. I could see how much she wanted to battle and she hadn't had a chance to go all out just yet. This was the perfect opportunity to see how far we had come since our battles against Lysandre, Red and N.
I felt a pokeball twitch by my side, a faint draconic aura pouring out from the seal. I could see that Sceptile also wanted this fight but I assured him that we would need his strength to face whatever laid beyond Cyrus.
"Alright Dragonite, this is your time now!"
The orange scaled dragon stepped onto the field, a confident smile on her face as she eyed up her opponent. Mewtwo hovered in the air silently, an intimidating glare on its face but it would take much more than that to deter Dragonite.
"Start with hurricane!"
"Blizzard to counter."
Dragonite started strong, whipping up a category four storm out of nowhere. Mewtwo was quick to counter, unleashing an icy gale from its mouth, the two moves colliding at the centre of the island.
Both attacks mixed with each other, creating an ice cold cyclone that quickly imploded on itself. The subsequent explosion kicked up a huge dust cloud, the smaller surrounding islands blown back by the powerful shockwave.
Neither pokemon was holding anything back, starting the battle off strong. The smoke cloud dissipated and as I looked across the field, Mewtwo had vanished.
Then a flash of black light crossed the field, its tail glowing a metallic silver. Dragonite braced for impact, waiting for the call.
"Now! Superpower to counter!"
Coated in a hot red steam, Dragonite swung her fist forward as Mewtwo brought down its tail from overhead. Both pokemon were locked into a stalemate, neither giving an inch as they pushed their opponent to the limit.
Dragonite swung with her free hand, Mewtwo pushing off from the contact to avoid the attack. I turned to the other side of the field, evaluating the strengths of our opponent. In this shadow form, Mewtwo's physical capabilities didn't trail too far from it's long distance excellence and that was a problem for us.
Then I looked back to our side of the island, Dragonite's confidence overflowing from her body. As strong as our opponent was, the dragon pokemon was able to match them step for step.
"Alright, now use spiral hurricane!"
Without wasting a second, Dragonite flew high into the air, calling on another category four storm. This time, she surrounded herself with it, flying at the epicentre of the cyclone. Then, she descended from the skies at great speed, Mewtwo frozen in its tracks.
As Dragonite reeled back from the attack, another crater had been made in the island. Mewtwo floated out of the huge gap, shaking off the damage from the unexpected attack. The artificial pokemon would have been programmed to react to all sorts of attack patterns, but something unconventional like this allowed us to stand on even ground with it.
Cyrus' lips curled into a half smile, before returning to their usual stoic expression. He didn't look fazed as he raised his arm, directing the next attack.
Mewtwo clicked its neck, tilting its head from shoulder to shoulder, washing away the waves of damage that had washed over it so far. The psychic pokemon began to glow a faint purple before the light faded away. Its aura felt more intense and vibrant, as if the damage only fuelled the pokemon's strength further propelling it onward.
"Now, attack Mewtwo!"
The shadow pokemon surged forward, creating hundreds of clones beside it as the army of psychic pokemon closed in on Dragonite.
"Use outrage to clear them out!"
The dragon pokemon closed its eyes, flaring up in a multicoloured mystical light. She flexed her muscles, awaiting the wave assault from the hordes of clones. the army of clones charged forward, readying their attacks as the pressed on.
Dragonite swung through the first clone as it burst into a cloud of smoke. The next came from her left, the dragon pokemon kicking out with her foot. Two more surged forward from behind, Dragonite sweeping them out of the air as the clones dissipated on contact.
The clones kept coming but Dragonite was holding her own, keeping the tides of battle in balance as she cut down the army. Mewtwo's army didn't let up, pressing on as the dragon pokemon ripped through the horde.
Just as the numbers seemed to getting the better of Dragonite, clones began piling on top of her from all sides. Then there was a blinding burst of draconic energy, the horde fading away as Dragonite let loose.
"Now focus punch Mewtwo!"
Then out of nowhere, the original psychic pokemon completely blindsided Dragonite, burying its hot glowing fist into her side.
I heard the wind get knocked out of her as the dragon pokemon was knocked away, barreling into one of the smaller rotated islands. She quickly recovered, a determined expression on its face. Mewtwo floated quietly in the air, a small smile across its lips. Dragonite let out a bellowing roar, showing she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
"Blizzard now!"
An icy cold gale swept across the island, Dragonite taking to the skies to avoid the attack. Mewtwo didn't let up, directing the attack skyward in pursuit of the dragon pokemon as she nimbly evading the ice attack.
"Dragonite, hurricane from above!"
The dragon pokemon reeled back, spreading her wings as she dug deep to call on a terrible tornado. This time, Dragonite overpowered the ice move, the powerful storm converging onto Mewtwo.
"Use psystrike to keep it away!"
Mewtwo didn't hesitate as it fired a huge glowing purple sphere of psychic energy at the last second. There was a huge explosion as the two moves collided, Mewtwo caught within the blast.
Or that's how it looked. The shadow pokemon burst through the smoke cloud, its aura glowing even stronger than before. Mewtwo took to the skies, arriving at Dragonite's height before stopping.
"Don't let up Dragonite, use outrage!"
Dragonite didn't waste a second, cloaking herself in a draconic light as she charged forward. This time Mewtwo was on the defensive, slipping under the oncoming attacks, unable to create an opening for itself. Dragonite pressed on, forcing Mewtwo down from the skies, toward the island.
Though Mewtwo wasn't done there. Slowly, the psychic pokemon became adjusted to the random pattern of attacks thrown its way. At every opportunity, Mewtwo would swing its metallic silver tail Dragonite's way but the dragon pokemon would bat it away, maintaining its onslaught.
Then as the aerial battle reached boiling point, Dragonite's fist connected with Mewtwo's head as the psychic pokemon swung its tail directly across the dragon's chest.
Both pokemon crashed out of the air, smashing into the island below. They each struggled to get up, but returned to the battle not intending to give in now.
"Mewtwo, psystrike again!"
"Use hurricane to keep them away!"
Mewtwo's body seemed to be glowing at this point, taking in all of the damage to improve its capacity for battle. This seemed to be at a cost though, the psychic pokemon's exhaustion now showing as it launched a huge sphere of glowing purple energy.
I looked across, seeing that Dragonite wasn't faring much better, her aura reaching fever pitch. I knew it was time as the dragon pokemon began to call on the gale winds once more. I closed my eyes, pulling at the threads of her aura to establish a stronger connection between us.
I felt my eyes flare up as I opened them, my right glowing a bright gold and my left glimmering a pure purple in the darkness of the void. As I turned to the field, Dragonite's body was glowing a faint gold, her eyes giving of a bright gold light.
Both pokemon launched their attacks, the orb of psychic energy crashing into the category five storm. Neither pokemon was giving an inch, sparks flying at the contact between the two powerful moves. The island began to cave in under the pressure of the collision, the two attacks resulting in a huge explosion.
As the dust faded, both battlers were still stood upright, staring out to each other. Mewtwo's body began to spill out with an ominous psychic energy. Its body was converting the damage into its strength now at its peak performance.
Dragonite hovered in the air calmly, her body glowing a bright gold, illuminating the worn field beneath her. Her eyes were fixed on Mewtwo, paying close attention to her opponent.
"Now is your time Mewtwo. This is the culmination of your power! Dark nova!"
"This is it Dragonite! Finish this with hyper beam!"
Mewtwo leapt into the air, forcing out all of its built up energy. The psychic pokemon held a giant sphere of dark glowing energy in its palms, pouring its all into this attack.
Dragonite took to the skies, puffing out her cheeks as she leant back for this final attack. She let loose, firing a huge pink and white coloured beam of energy through the void as Mewtwo launched a pitch black beam through the air.
As both attacks crashed into each other, there was a blinding explosion, light bursting out from the collision. Neither pokemon was prepared to give in now that the battle had come this far.
Dragonite's beam of energy increased in intensity as Mewtwo revved up its attack. A huge explosion took over the island, completely covering the field.
It took an eternity for the smoke to clear but as it did, I looked across the field, seeing only one pokemon standing.
Mewtwo had collapsed to the floor, Dragonite standing tall over her opponent, triumphant at the edge of the void.