Mew gracefully dodged shadows psystrike as Mewtwo's drain punch connects with shadows ribs, before getting hit at point blank range with a shadow ball. As Mewtwo was knocked away Shadow returned its focus on Mew, but was instead left gasping as Mew hit it in the stomach with iron head.

The addition of Mew to the battle turned the tide of the battle against Shadow. Mewtwo had been able to keep up with Shadow, leaving neither one having a definitive advantage. But now that Mew had joined the battle it was only a matter of time till Shadow was defeated.

Despite its position Shadow continued to fight with everything he had, determined to prove his worth over its predecessors. Shadow was preparing to attack with a dark pulse, but paused as they all felt a sudden chill run down their spines. They all looked as Arceus launched an attack up into the air. Following his instincts Shadow tried to quickly fly away to get above the attack, however mewtwo used foul play, grabbing Shadow by its tail and sending it back towards the ground.

Shadow crashed hard into the ground, but it didn't just lay there. Arceus had just used judgment, and it was only a matter of time before the attack began to crash into the ground as well. Shadow tried to to take off and escape the attack, but Mew and Mewtwo had unleashed a barrage of shadow balls, they weren't going to let their opponent escape.

Spheres of black and violet energy rained down upon Shadow, as light screen was used to defend. Explosions erupted all around as Shadow withstood the assault, not forgetting about Arceus' attack also on the way. It's only thought that brought any hope was that Mew and Mewtwo would have to cease their attacks so they could escape as well.

And as predicted the shadow balls eventually stopped, and Shadow was left hidden in a cloud of dust. It was about to make a run for it, but was haulted by Mewtwo using brick break to eliminate light screen. The chop broke through the defensive barrier, and continued to strike Shadow right between its eyes.

Shadow grabbed its face in pain, but by the time it looked back Mewtwo had backed away to Mew, and they were engulfed in a green barrier that formed around them. Shadow thought this was its chance to escape, but it was too late. Before it could even look up the first strike from Arceus' judgment made contact with its head.

One after another the attacks crashed into the ground and anyone or thing in their way. The ground shook violently as if the world were about to split in two. After the final strike all became deathly silent as the dust from the impacts filled the air.

Shadow laid on the ground breathing heavily, somehow managing to survive the attack. As he pushed himself up he tried to look around, but the dust blocked his view. He tried to stand up, wincing from the pain of his injuries. Using his psychic abilities he levitated to an upright position and tried to sense his surroundings.

Almost immediately he realized he wasn't alone, Mew and Mewtwo were still alive, and their presence felt strong. He tried to fly away and retreat, but out of nowhere a fist stretched out from the cloud and smashed into his face. Then before he knew it an arm quickly wrapped around his neck as a hand grabbed into the side of his head.

"Please stop this," Mew pleaded as Shadow struggled against Mewtwos hold. "Giovanni is all but defeated, and Arceus will welcome you warmly as he did..."

Crack

"You left me no other choice," Mewtwo said to Shadow, as his body became limp and he fell to the ground.

"Why?" Mew asked in confusion as it looked up at the genetic pokemon. "He could have joined us as you did. He could have been family."

"No," Mewtwo replied coldly. "I had tried to bring him over already, but he was too loyal to Giovanni, we couldn't risk trying to trust him." Mewtwo turned to face Arceus as several of the legendary pokemon started to get back up or released their barriers. "Especially now. We couldn't risk he would turn on us mid battle."

"I know, but I still held hope," Mew replied looking down at Shadow' lifeless corpse sadly.

"Hold hope for our survival instead," Mewtwo started, then shot off to join the battle against Arceus.

——————————————————————-

Giovanni's airship was moving away from the destruction caused by Arceus, while firing beam weapons at Red and his Charizard, who were closing in from behind.

"Damn it! How hard is it to shoot that man out of the sky?!" Giovani yelled from his seat on the airship's bridge, at the two grunts operating the weapon controls.

"I apologize sir, but that Charizard is extremely maneuverable," one of the grunts replied.

"Not only that, it's as if they're predicting the angles of our blasts," the other added.

——————————————————————-

"Duck down five degrees for two seconds."

"Bank right and climb twelve degrees for four seconds."

Despite not having the use of aura or psychic powers, Red Ketchum had an incredible power that gave him a fighting chance of his own. His well trained mind and senses. Red was not always the strongest trainer, but he was a brilliant strategist, with sharp eyes trained to read different angles with precision. With this Red could gauge the angle of an attack and have any of his pokemon dodge it with the most minimal of movement. This was of tremendous importance now, as Red was trying to close in and bring down the airship.

Despite his size Charizard was actually quite agile in the air, allowing him to quickly and accurately follow Reds commands, even while firing back.

"Dip down fifteen degrees for two seconds, then target the lower gun with dragon pulse!"

Charizard dropped down, a laser beam narrowly missing the top of Red's head as multicolored dragon energy built up in his maw. Once Charizard leveled out he opened his mouth and released the dragon energy. The blast managed to destroy one of the lasers and continued on to do a bit more damage to the belly of the airship. It wasn't enough to bring it down, but it was enough to create a blind spot in their defenses.

"Its time to finish this," Red stated, his expression turning dark. "Dragon claw."

——————————————————————-

The airship shook violently as alarms sounded.

"They took out turret number two!" The grunt gunner announced.

The airship shook violently again.

"He's attacking the number three engine!" Another grunt shouted.

"Deploy flares, increase altitude!" The Captain ordered. "Hopefully the flares will make them back off long enough to get out of their reach."

"Don't tell me we only have two turrets!?" Giovanni asked angrily.

"This ship wasn't designed for this. It was meant for stealth operations to capture high profile pokemon. The hull is incredibly thick, even the engines can take a serious beating before giving out," the captain explained. "The problem is they are incredibly powerful and are attacking with unheard of precision."

The airship shook again, as the left side began to dip down.

"Number three engine is down! We'vre stopped climbing!"

"Increase power to engines one and three to keep us steady!"

"What about the active camouflage?" Giovanni asked.

"Since he already had us in his sights it would have only been a drain on our power. Not to mention we would have had to slow down just so the camouflaged would work correctly."

"He's attacking engine four!"

"Can't we do anything?!"

"Begin emergency descent!" The Captain ordered.

"What?!"

"There's no way we'll be able to stop him, and if we lose one more engine we won't be able to maintain our altitude. It's better to control our descent now before we start dropping like a rock."

The ship shook and alarms rang as the ground quickly but steadily closed in. Red's attack continued, and through the windows they occasionally caught sight of a stray attack whizzing by after missing either Arceus or one of the few remaining legendary pokemon still battling.

Another explosion was heard as the ship violently shook again, but this time the back of the ship dip down.

"Engine four is down!"

"Everyone strap in now and bring engines one and two to full power!" The Captain ordered, as everything not strapped down fell to the back of the ship. They weren't in a free fall, but with half of the engines destroyed, the remaining two just didn't have enough strength to keep them in the air.

The airship fell quickly, and as it did Red and Charizard weren't far behind as they did nothing to hasten the fall. As they descended, Red's eyes shifted to the battle against Arceus, and the terrifying sight of so many of the legendary pokemon lay motionless. He had hoped they would be enough, but as he saw another legendary pokemon fall he knew that wasn't the case. Their best hope now was getting the controller away from Giovanni and ordering him to stop, otherwise he would have destroyed the remaining two engines as well.

Even though the airship was falling rapidly, to Red every second felt like an eternity. With every second that passed, every pokemon that fell, it all brought them closer and closer to having to face off against Arceus, and he was confident they couldn't win even if they were all battling at their best. He wasn't certain, but as the ground grew closer, he became confident that he saw the others a bit away from the battle. This not only gave him some relief that they were probably ok, but also made him anxious that Ash and Delia would be in danger if Arceus took notice of them.

Finally the airship crashed into the ground, the ship breaking in half shortly after the tail hit and dragged along the ground. Smoke billowed out from one of the remaining engines from the impact, as well as from multiple hill breaches. Red circled above as he looked for Giovanni to make his escape. It took several minutes, and letting a few grunts escape, but eventually Giovanni stumbled out through a tear in the hull.

"Ack ack," Giovanni coughed from the smoke as he exited the airship.

His left arm was hanging limp as his right carried the case with the Arceus plate, and blood trickled down the left side of his face from his forehead. His left arm was dislocated, several ribs were broken, and he was suffering a concussion, but he had survived worse. He was trained to endure and continue on after suffering from serious injuries, but it had been a long time since he had sustained such serious injuries. He may have been keeping himself from panicking, but that didn't make it any easier to move with those injuries.

Thump

Giovanni looked and saw a large Charizard, with Red climbing off its back.

"It's over, you've lost," Red said darkly as he approached.

"How confident you are," Giovanni replied with a smirk. "But don't forget, Arceus is still mine. You could destroy all of Team Rocket, but as long as I still have him I'll win."

Red put his right fist in his left hand and popped his knuckles. "All I have to do..." he then switched hands and did the same. "Is kill you and take the controller. I'm pretty sure Arceus won't object after I free him."

"Nice try, but you don't have the nerve to kill me."

"Oh really?" Red then grabbed Giovanni by his collar and punched him in the face, sending him stumbling back from his grip.

Giovanni regained his footing and spit out some blood. "Really. Not even Delia has killed any of my men, and you know why?" He smirked confidently. "Your son."

Red flinched.

"Delia doesn't want Ash to see her as a killer, and I'm willing to bet you don't either."

Reds eyes narrowed with a dark look. "Until a few days ago I didn't even know I had a son. But I'm pretty sure he'll understand that being your prisoner messed me up in the head."

He pulled a knife from his belt and began to menacingly walk towards his former captor. Knowing Red wouldn't hesitate to kill him he pulled back on the metal case holding the plate and swung it at Red while opening one of the latches. Instinctively Red jumped back to avoid it, as Giovanni took a knee to open two more latches. Red charged in thinking there was a weapon inside the case, but Giovanni took a handful of dirt and threw it at his face. Red became temporarily blinded but still continued forward determined to not let his target escape.

Red swung his blade, but Giovanni swung the case back up to block the attack and redirect Red's momentum. Red crashed into the ground and desperately tried to force one of his eyes open as he tried to rub the dirt out of the other. Now with a moment Giovanni finished opening the case, but Charizard had no intention of letting him put his trainer in danger again; he stomped forward.

Without looking up Giovanni knew what was coming, and refocused back on the case. The case opened just as he felt the heat from Charizard preparing to use flamethrower. Just a split second before the attack was released, Giovanni raised the plate and used it as a shield. The powerful stream of fire should have been large enough to completely engulf Giovanni and the plate, however the wasn't the case. Instead of engulfing them the flames funneled into the plate as if being sucked into it as it absorbed the power. After a few seconds the attack stopped with Giovanni stepping out from behind the plate.

"Ah, thank you very much," Giovanni said as he stood triumphantly.

He then pressed his hand into the plate and both he and the plate gave a golden glow. It only lasted a second or two before fading, and when it was done he stood strong with all of his injuries healed. He then looked to Red and he stood back up.

"As much as I would like to finish things between us properly, I have other things to do."

He pressed his into the plate again causing the golden glow to return, but this time it was as if his body was absorbed into the plate before it shot off towards Arceus.

"Charizard, we need to regroup with the others, I have a bad feeling about that."

——————————————————————-

The plate shot across the now wasteland towards the legendary battle unfolding. In no time at all the plate slammed into Arceus, causing him to cry out as his body began to give a golden glow while the plate was absorbed. The other pokemon held back, uncertain as to what was about to happen as they caught their breath. As he glowed his form began to change, rising up to become bipedal, and the wheel that was once around his abdomen was now on his back. Once the glow subsided it looked as if Arceus had evolved into a completely different form. He was now bipedal with an almost human look to him, looking as if he were wearing white and golden robes with a golden crown upon his head with four green jewels on the front. His tail remained, and his feet still looked the same, but now he had two hands with golden claw like fingers.

He began examining himself to see his changes before he burst out laughing. This however wasn't a normal laugh, something about it felt darker, evil even.

He then stopped laughing as his eyes settled on the remaining legendary pokemon. "Now then, come at me, and do try not to lose too quickly."

——————————————————————-

"What's going on? I didn't know Arceus could evolve," Isla asked no one in particular as she and everyone watched the transformation.

"Well I mean, there's only one Arceus in the world, so obviously if he could evolve no one would know," William replied in equal shock.

"Red!" Delia called out as he flew in on his Charizard and ran to him. Red dismounted as Delia arrived, wrapping her arms tight around him. "Do you know what's going on?"

Arceus laughed darkly making everyone turn to look at him.

"I'm not positive, but I think that's actually Giovanni."

"What? How?" William asked.

"I don't know. I saw him press his hand into the plate, then he disappeared and the plate shot towards Arceus."

"I don't even know how to start processing this," Limaro said as he watched the battle resume. "I want to hope this could actually work to our advantage, but I feel things just got worse."

"The plate alone increased Acreus' power, but with Giovanni in direct control of Arceus..." William trialed off.

"I'm other words were fucked aren't we," Brendan concluded.

"Giovanni was always an excellent fighter and world class trainer on par with a champion. Power aside I can only see their odds getting worse," Delia replied as she saw Regigigas taking a series of punches before being sent flying with a shoulder toss.

"Come on guys, we can't give up now. Never give up till the end," Ash exclaimed.

"Ash, this isn't the end, but we can't win this battle. We need to regroup and come up with a new plan," Riley replied.

"We need to prepare for the coming wave. I doubt he'll just stop here, I have no doubt Giovanni is going to turn the whole world into a war zone," William stated.

"But..." Ash trailed off as he saw the despair in everyone's eyes.

Serena then took Ash's hand. "I'll stand beside you no matter what, but we need a plan first."

"It'll need to be one hell of a plan, he's just taking out all the legendary Pokémon one after another like they're nothing," Paul commented.

Ash gnashed his teeth in frustration and he hit a pint of realization. "No, not every legendary pokemon."

"What? Who's left?" Serena asked.

"Hang on, I've got an idea." "Hoopa, do you hear me?" Ash called out with his aura.

"I am. Sorry I forgot about how close you all are. I'll send you back to Pallet town before I join the battle."

"Hold that thought. We need more help, you guys forgot a very powerful Pokémon."

"Powerful Pokémon? Who...no. He's a wild card, there's no telling what he'll do."

"Whatever he does it's got to be better than this." Hoopa stayed quiet, but Ash could feel he was relenting. "Hoopa, send me to him. I'll bring him back."

"If I send you there, I won't be able to bring you back if he refuses to help."

"Then I better convince him."

"Ok. Get ready."

"Alright, time for me to move."

"Move? Where?" Delia asked.

Serena started crying. "Ash I'm sorry, I got worried and saw your plan."

He then wrapped his arms around her and kissed her lips. "Don't worry, I'll be back."

A golden ring then formed behind him to with a shimmering portal inside. Ash released Serena and looked at the portal before looking back to everyone else.

"I'll be back, so keep yourselves safe," Ash said before turning around and entering the portal.