Author's Notes:
Good morning everyone and welcome to another chapter of Alpha and Omega. Today is the conclusion of Ash and the gangs first encounter with Shadow, so I hope you're all excited, and yes I know this chapter is a little shorter than usual. The truth is this used to be a part of chapter 70, but it was getting too long for me, so I had to break it up.

Now before I let you read on I have one announcement. As you can see there are no more AMVs, that is because the polls are officially closed. I will tally the results and get them to you with the next update. And now, if you like my work please vote, feel free to comment, and please share this story with your friends. I now present to you chapter 71, enjoy.

"Get up and run," a voice in Ash's head told him.

"Mewtwo?" Ash questioned as he pushed himself back to his feet. This was not the same looking Pokémon that Ash remembered. Mewtwo was smaller and had lost its tail, but now had a purple appendage coming out of the back of its head that resembled its missing tail.

"Yes I am just mega evolved, now run. I will deal with Shadow," Mewtwo replied, then fired a wave of psychic power at Shadow, who then did the same.

Ash then returned his Pokémon and ran to the others as the two powerful Pokémon clashed.
"Is everyone ok?" Ash asked as the ground shook.

"I'll live," Calem said as he limped over as fast as he could.

"Yeah well none of us will if we don't get out of here," Brendan replied.

"Brendan's right, Ash! We need to get out of here now," Serena urged.

"You guys go. I won't leave Mewtwo to fight that thing by himself," Ash replied with determination.

"Listen to me Ash. We are out of our league here. They are just too strong for us. Your Lucario was the only Pokémon we had that even stood a chance, but even he got beat. We need to go now!" Brendan urged.

"I won't stop you, go. I'll be fine," Ash replied as he looked back at the two Pokémon battling.

Serena took Ash's hand and held it as she came up beside him, causing him to look at her. "If you stay, I stay," Serena said sternly.

Calem and Brendan then came up on his other side. "I don't like the idea of leaving a friend behind, so I'm staying. Besides, with your luck, we should be fine," Brendan stated.

"I guess your craziness is contagious Ash," Calem added.

"Thanks everyone, but I have no idea what to do. Lucario is my only Pokémon that is still capable of battling, and he's in pretty rough shape," Ash replied.

"What about one of those Z moves?" Calem asked. "The one Pikachu used seemed to really piss it off, so it probably hurt it."

Ash's eyes then opened in realization and he opened his jacket as he started looking through his Z crystals on the inside. He then pulled out a light pink Z crystal and stared at it. "Maybe," Ash thought out loud, then removed a Pokéball and released Lucario, who took a knee almost immediately. Ash quickly went to him and put his hand on Lucario's shoulders as his eyes and hands glowed blue as he healed him and tried to restore some of his strength. "Lucario I know you're tired and hurt, but I have a plan, and I can't execute it without you."

"Whatever you ask of me master, I shall complete that task," Lucario replied as his eyes locked on Ash and showed the determination to succeed. Ash then explained his plan with his aura, so that Shadow couldn't read anyone's mind to learn of it before it's too late.

Mewtwo and Shadow were currently battling, neither one letting up as their attacks clashed. Both Pokémon were using Psyshock as two purple beams collided and they battled for dominance. The attacks pushed back and forth, showing that they were evenly matched. As they continued, the power of the attacks began building until there was a massive explosion creating a huge gust of wind blowing in every direction. Shadow was about to launch another attack when Lucario seized the opportunity and used Extreme Speed with an aura infused punch to attack it.
"Mewtwo," Ash called out to get his attention as he ran up to him. "I have an idea to beat Shadow," Ash announced as he arrived and showed his Z power ring, in which was holding Mewnium Z.

"I don't know if this will work," Mewtwo replied sounding uncertain.

"I think it will. I mean you were created from Mew, so you two are at least similar," Ash explained.

Mewtwo looked back at Shadow as he and Lucario battled. "Alright! It's worth a shot," Mewtwo replied.

Ash smiled, and threw Lucario's Pokéball to Serena. "Return him right as we finish and fire the attack," Ash instructs Serena, to which she nodded in understanding.

Ash and Mewtwo began making the synchronized moves as the power built. "Genesis Supernova!" Ash called out, as the Z crystal shattered and Mewtwo fired the attack.
Hearing this Shadow looked in their direction to see a large pink and purple ball of psychic energy hurling at him. Shadow looked to Lucario to see a smirk on his face right before he was returned to his Pokéball. Shadow looked back at the attack and tried to counter it with his own attacks, but the Z move continued unfazed. Upon the Z move connecting with its target, there was a massive explosion. The ground shook more violently than any earthquake, as the force of the bast knocked the trainers off their feet, and trees were uprooted. However Mewtwo caught the trainers with Psychic to ensure they didn't fly too far back or get hurt.

"Is it over? Did we win?" Calem asked no one in particular as the shockwave ended. However, no one responded. All eyes were locked on the direction that Shadow was at the time of the explosion, which was being hidden by a dust cloud.

Suddenly there was a roar filled with pure rage as a blast of psychic energy blew the dust cloud away, revealing Shadow. It was hunched over with its arms hanging down, badly burned and probably broken from trying to block the attack. Its body was covered in burns and bruises, and a cut on its head where blood was trickling from down its face. It glared at them all with one eye closed, which appeared to be burnt shut, as it boiled with rage.

"Stop this, Shadow," Mewtwo requested sympathetically. "Giovanni only sees you as a tool. Come with me and I can show you freedom. You can find your true place in this world as I did."

Shadow bore its teeth as it growled in anger, showing they were light red from its mouth bleeding. Shadow saw Serena and the other trainers coming up behind Mewtwo, and knew that in its current condition even Serena could defeat it. "This isn't over! You will all bow down before Giovanni!" Shadow yelled, then used teleport to escape.

Everyone shared a sigh of relief that the ordeal was over, and Mewtwo returned to its original form.

"Mewtwo," Ash said getting its attention. "Thank you! There's no way we could have won without you."

"And I must thank you. If not for the use of your Z crystal, the battle would have been much longer and destructive," Mewtwo replied, then looked at Ash's Z ring. "But I must also apologize. If not for me, your Z Crystal would not have been destroyed."

"It's fine. I'm honestly amazed that it even worked. Besides, what are the odds I'd ever be able to even use it with Mew?" Ash replied light heartedly.

"Well I hate to cut our time short," Brendan interjected. "But all of our Pokémon are in pretty bad shape. So we need to get to a Pokémon center fast."

"Brendan's right. As we stand now, if we run into any trouble, we won't be able to defend ourselves," Calem added.
"Then please allow me to help you one more time," Mewtwo suggested. Its eyes glowed white as everyone disappeared. Instantly everyone found themselves teleported outside of a Pokémon Center in the woods, just slightly off the route they had planned, but Mewtwo was nowhere to be found.

Later that evening, after the Pokémon were all treated and resting, Serena and Calem were sitting in the Pokémon Center lobby sharing stories of their travels in Torrent as they tried to forget the horrible ordeal. Off to the side sitting at a table, Brendan had borrowed everyone's Pokédexes and was looking through the lists of everyone's Pokémon as he tried to devise a strategy to battle Shadow if they were to encounter it again. Ash was helping him at first. however, he left after he had an idea, and was now walking into a video phone booth making an important call. Once inside, he connected his phone so he could use the larger screen, and selected the person he wanted to call.
"Alola Ash," Olivia greeted cheerfully when she saw his face.

"Alola Olivia. How are you?" Ash replied with a smile.

"You know me. Everything is great here. How about you? I take it you're traveling again?" Olivia asked.

"I'm still breathing, if that's any indication. I'm traveling through the Torrent Region," Ash replied in a more serious tone.

"I take it you had a rough day, but they do say that that region is a bit dangerous. I'm happy to see you're ok. You know I have a friend up there, a gym leader in fact," Olivia replied as she tried to hide the fact she was nervous.

"Yes I know, William, the Madrid gym leader. Actually he's a member of the Torrent Elite Four now," Ash replied in a matter of fact tone as he gave a knowing look.

"Oh," Olivia replied with a look of realization. "So he ratted me out." Ash nodded as he continued to have a knowing look. "I'm sorry Ash. I sensed your dormant power, but I didn't feel it was my place to interfere and train you since I didn't know your mother's stance on it. I'm sure William explained our history. I myself was once hunted by a group of psychics when I was younger, so I considered your mother might have been trying to avoid that happening with you."

"You're kidding me," Ash replied in shock.

"Nope. I survived a two person psychic attack at the tender age of fifteen. Thankfully my parents trained me and powers didn't just start to awaken on their own, so I was able to fight them off. That's why I love living in Alola. The psychic presence is minimal, mostly just psychics on vacation, so they don't usually want to bother with me. And the psychics that do live in the region truly embody the spirit of Alola, and are so chill they don't have a problem with Aura guardians. Why just the other day I walked into a restaurant where several psychics were eating. They saw me and just smiled, waved, and went back to eating their meals," Olivia replied.

"That sounds nice. One of my first encounters with psychics in Torrent was at a gym that doubled as a school for psychics. Several of the students tried to kill me, then the psychic leader for the region tried to kill me," Ash replied as he one upped Olivia.

"In the end all that matters is that you survived," Olivia replied, trying to look on the bright side. "So, what do I owe for the call? I doubt you just called to chit chat."

"I need a favor," Ash replied in a serious tone, and explained the favor.

"That no small favor Ash. There are rules and traditions revolving around that. I can't just give that to you like a piece of jewelry," Olivia replied with a serious tone.

"Olivia, my friends and I were almost killed by a legendary Pokémon today. That would have made a big difference. As for the tradition and rules, I'm familiar with them, so I'll make sure they are followed. And if it makes you feel any better, you can just consider this as your apology to me," Ash replied.

"Why do I owe you an apology?" Olivia replied curiously while starting to sound annoyed.

"My aura powers started to awaken during the ultra beast period. I saw you several times after this started, and you did nothing. At that point I had a bullseye on my back for any psychic that wanted to take a shot at me. And you just let me go along on my way with no idea," Ash replied starting to sound angry.

Olivia shrunk down in her chair as she knew Ash was right. "Ok. Just tell me where to send it to and I'll ship it when I'm done."

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Several hours earlier in Kanto, deep within a Team Rocket base, Giovanni, followed by his assistant and lead by two guards, entered a lab to see Shadow submerged in a tank of water with an oxygen mask on as he was being healed. Shadow then opened his eyes and looked as Giovanni as he sensed his presence.

"Giovanni," Shadow said with a shocked tone.

"Dr. Zager, what is Shadow's status?" Giovanni asked as he announced his presence to the Dr and his staff.

Immediately everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to face Giovanni as they stood at attention.

"Giovanni sir, Shadow was badly injured on his mission. Both arms broken, concussion, internal bleeding, a cracked eye socket, and burns over half of his body," Dr. Zager replied as Giovanni walked to the tank.

"Ash Ketchum did this?" Giovanni questioned not believing her was capable of this level of power.

"Not all. Mewtwo interfered in some new form. I believe he can now mega evolve," Shadow replied.

"You are vastly superior to Mewtwo, he should not have been able to do this much damage," Giovanni replied sounding angry.

"He and the boy did some kind of energy transfer and he was able to create an unbelievably powerful attack that overwhelmed me," Shadow said in his defense.

"Hmm, no doubt a Z move," Giovanni theorized to himself.

"Giovanni, I will not fail you again. Once I am healed, I will destroy the boy's friends and Pokémon and bring his broken body before you," Shadow stated in an insane vengeful tone.

"No. My plans are at too crucial a point now to risk wasting time with failure," Giovanni replied, then looked to Dr. Zager. "How long until Shadow has fully recovered?"

"Three hours at most," Zager replied.

"Excellent. Shadow, monitor my status from here, and join me when needed," Giovanni instructed, then looked to his assistant. "Have my car ready to leave immediately."

"Yes sir. Where should I tell the driver to take you?" his assistant asked.

"He will not be driving me this time, I will be driving myself. And have a cup of coffee ready for the drive, it's a three hour drive to Pallet Town and I want to be sure I'm alert when Delia and I meet again," Giovanni replied as he turned and walked away with a devilish smirk on his face.