The Next Generation

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A storm unlike any other swirled violently across the land, casting crashing waves into violent spirals, which crashed spectacularly against the unprepared coastline. The night was the blackest in decades as the gale-force winds howled and cried, forcing the waves into unnatural shapes, ripping at the trees of the coast and tearing clouds across the sky.

Powerful waves swamped smaller boats, swallowing them whole and plummeting them into the inky blackness of the dark ocean. Larger ships, the ones able to ride out the tempest, bucked and plunged as wave after wave crashed against impenetrable hulls.

At the eye of this spectacular hurricane there was an isle of calm. A small island sat, seeming to be untouched by the potent "Winds of Water". Cresting waves slapped sharply against slick, sheer rock sides that the island was made of, unaffecting the castle or the occupants within.

The castle was a sentinel against a dark, stormy sky, its spires jutted into the darkness, windmills spinning rapidly in the torrent of wind. High among these spires, flashes of blue and pink energy lit up the night, like some sort of bizarre fireworks display.

High above an open playing field, blue and pink psychic energies exploded in intense white light. Floating orbs slammed against one other, ricocheting back into the dark night only to turn and clash again.

Beneath this titanic clash a torn-up playing field was being turned into a battlefield. Pokemon struggled against Pokemon -- clone against real, fighting a very real battle ... one to the death.

Two green Scyther's blades clanged against each other, sending sparks out as they battled. Two Rapidashes slammed bodily against one another, racing from one end of the field to the other, flaming manes racing behind them.

Vileplumes knocked heads, while two Psyducks held their own heads, looking confused. A Vapreon chased another Vapreon as two Sandslashes ripped at each other with razor-sharp claws. Two Golducks sparred as two Bulbasaurs butted heads.

Two Charizards were locked in a terrible struggle, forcing each other back several steps, before one with red stripes clamped his sharp teeth around the neck of the normal one.

Four trainers stood helplessly by as their beloved Pokemon battled their vicious, identical clones. Animal cries of pain and suffering echoed over the field.

A woman dressed in old-fashioned attire looked away, tears sparkling on her cheeks and threatening to fall. "This is wrong," she said softly, hands clasped together in anguish. "Pokemon aren't meant to fight like this."

"They're fighting, all right," a boy with short brown hair and slitted eyes looked sorrowful. "Fighting, to the death."

Misty, a gym leader from Cerulean City, clutched her egg Pokemon Togepi close. "That's a fight that no one can win," she said softly, watching as the chaos unfolded before them.

The fifth trainer was scrambling haphazardly down the rock edifice where he had been thrown earlier in the fight. Eyes slitted in determination, Ash Ketcham glanced down towards the ground, before dropping the last couple of feet to the next large rock, the one closet to the ground. Here he paused, seeing for the first time the horrible battles being fought out below.

The one battle that caught his attention, however, was the one with two distinctive small, yellow electric rodents. "Pikachu!" Ash cried, running towards the edge then catching himself. He balled his fists and forced himself to look down at the fights going on below, before looking up to see the two glowing balls of psychic energy that housed the Pokemon who had caused this mess.

Ash resumed his climb back down.

The cloned Pikachu charged the real one, ramming him in his side and throwing him back several feet. The real Pikachu climbed painfully to his feet, shaking his head sharply. "Chuuu." he stated, refusing to fight.

With a dull thud, Ash landed on the steps beside the tall rocks. He took a second, regaining his wind and feet, before charging down heedlessly, towards the terrible battles going on below. He stumbled on a slight outcropping, falling forward to land with a painful jolt on his hands and knees, at the bottom of the stairs. Misty and Brock spotted him and ran over, intent on trying to do something -- anything -- to stop the madness going on around them.

"What are we going to do?" Misty cried.

Ash looked up at the battlefield, still crouched on his hands and knees. "We've got to stop him," he said grimly. "Someone's got to take a stand, someone's got to say no and refuse to fight -- just like Pikachu."

Everyone looked to Ash's favorite Pokemon and one true friend. The clone Pikachu had given up on the ramming attacks, seeing that it had no effective on the passive Pikachu. The clone was slapping the real one in the face, but eliciting no response. Pikachu refused to fight, and it was driving the clone to desperation.

Then the two psychic powers -- Mew and Mewtwo -- fell to earth with a thundering boom, drawing a huge furrow into the center of the playing field before repelling each other to the opposite ends of the field.

Pokemon were forced back to the sidelines by the sudden burst of sheer power exhibited by the two legendary Pokemon. As soon as the dust had settled, the trainers looked up to see what was going on.

They stood -- or more accurately, floated at the ends of the playing field, like two pseudo-trainers. One commanding the real Pokemon, and the other commanding the clones. Blue and pink battle auras surrounded to two Pokemon as they powered up, aiming deadly psychic blasts at each other, ready to destroy everything -- human and Pokemon alike.

**Now it ends!** Mewtwo's psychic voice emanated throughout the stadium.

"STOP!" Ash yelled suddenly, springing from his crouch and sprinting into the center of the arena.

"ASH!" Misty and Brock yelled, panic-stricken and somehow knowing what the trainer was trying to do. Except they understood one thing he didn't, that the plan was doomed to failure from the start, that the Pokemon were just too powerful...

Blue and pink psychic energy erupted, thrown with unparalleled strength at the other. A great explosion blasted outwards, starting at the center of the ring and catching Ash within its fiery power, before the light of the huge explosion washed over the rest of the stadium.

Everything went white...

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A/N: I know this is from the movie. It shall play a vital part in the story later on. ~_^;;