With Ash's arrival, the tension among the gathered Trainers visibly eased. At the same time, quiet discussions broke out as people began assessing his strength and debating whether he could truly stop the two gigantic Pokémon.
Most came to the same conclusion.
Ash was strong. Extremely strong. Among everyone present, he was unquestionably the strongest.
But these two opponents were simply too much.
Still, with Ash leading and everyone working together, holding out until the Elite Four arrived should be achievable.
That was the consensus.
While the Trainers below hastily discussed formations and contingencies, Ash quietly closed his eyes.
He opened the group chat.
Newbie Ash: Emergency. Need answers.
Champion Ash: You always say that. What now?
Newbie Ash: Two ancient Pokémon. Eye of Insight shows their names followed by (Ghost) (Ghost). Not living like Dragonite was. Thoughts?
For Ash, this was instinctive. When something didn't make sense, the group chat always did.
Scholar Ash: Then they're not alive. They're already dead.
Newbie Ash: Dead?! They're leveling mountains!
Ash couldn't reconcile those words with what he was seeing.
Scholar Ash: They poured all their power into anchors before dying, trying to persist after death. A desperate, unnatural act.
Scholar Ash: Have you noticed? No speech. No awareness. Just destruction and combat.
Newbie Ash: Yeah.
Scholar Ash: Their minds are gone. What you're seeing are energy constructs running on pure battle instinct.
Newbie Ash: Define "anchor."
Scholar Ash: Something that stabilizes and shapes energy. Those two are pure energy ghosts now. Your Eye confirmed it.
Scholar Ash: Don't bother capturing them. Destroy them completely. Once they collapse, their anchors will fall.
Scholar Ash: Anchors contain the Pokémon's full essence. I can't say exactly what they'll do, but for Ghost- and Psychic-types, the benefits will be enormous.
Ash inhaled slowly.
That explained everything.
Why they felt wrong. Why their presence was distorted. Why they destroyed without purpose.
They weren't living Pokémon.
They were remnants.
Newbie Ash: Got it.
Ash opened his eyes.
The uncertainty vanished from his gaze, replaced by absolute resolve.
"Mewtwo," he said calmly, "no holding back. They're not alive."
Mewtwo narrowed her eyes slightly.
"So that's why they feel wrong," her voice echoed in his mind. "Then there's no reason to restrain myself."
Below them, the Trainers shouted encouragement.
"We'll back you up!"
"Together we can hold them!"
"Ten minutes until League reinforcements arrive!"
Ash glanced down, expression strange.
Thanks, but unnecessary.
This wouldn't take ten minutes.
Misty and Brock arrived at last, riding Misty's Dragonair. Her Dragonair had evolved during the past month.
Ash had already scouted ahead.
The moment Misty saw the battlefield, then glanced at Mewtwo floating calmly in the air, she had to stifle a laugh.
Anyone who didn't know better would think Ash was doomed.
Two massive ancient Pokémon versus one Trainer.
But Misty and Brock already felt pity, for the giants.
Flashy size meant nothing.
Unless something reached God Level, it wasn't even a fight.
Help Ash?
He'd brought Mewtwo.
That alone answered the question.
Ash raised his voice so the Trainers below could hear him.
"Thanks, everyone, but I've got this. Don't worry, it'll be quick."
Then he turned toward the two colossal figures, who stared back with empty, predatory hostility.
He raised his hand.
"Mewtwo- Psychic."
The target was clear.
Gengar first.
Mewtwo's eyes ignited with sapphire light.
She lifted one hand and snapped her three fingers together.
In that instant, the towering Gengar was seized by an overwhelming, absolute psychic force, its massive form locking rigid in midair, as if the world itself had closed its grip around it.
The world fell silent.
Then, in the very next instant, the colossal Gengar detonated, its entire body bursting apart into vast clouds of dark energy that scattered across the sky.
The already gloomy skiies were dyed a ghostly violet.
One move.
That was all it took.
The giant Gengar, which had driven dozens of Trainers to despair, was completely erased from existence.
From the dissipating storm of energy, only a nearly invisible black dumbbell remained, dropping straight toward the ground.
Mewtwo noticed it immediately. With a flick, she caught the falling object, then sent it through Spatial Swap, delivering it directly into Ash's hands.
Ash reacted instantly. He grabbed the dumbbell mid-air and stuffed it into his Spatial Backpack without slowing even a fraction of a second.
This had to be the anchor Scholar-Ash mentioned.
No idea what it did yet, but there was no doubt it was extraordinary.
The Trainers watching from below were utterly speechless.
"Didn't we just say we'd work together?"
"Wasn't that thing forcing us into a stalemate?"
"Where was the 'holding out' part?"
Moments ago, that giant Gengar had crushed them with absolute dominance.
And yet now;
It hadn't even been defeated.
It had been erased.
Ash hadn't lifted a finger.
'What… what is that cat-looking Pokémon next to Ash?'
'One-shot. That thing just one-shot something at least Elite Four Peak.'
'Elite Four Peak? No way. That was Champion-tier, minimum.'
'You're telling me Ash owns a Pokémon that just deleted a Champion-level enemy?'
'I don't want to believe it either, but I felt that pressure myself.'
As the shock spread, a realization dawned on many of them.
That explosion hadn't looked like a Pokémon fainting.
It looked like an energy construct collapsing.
"So it really wasn't solid…"
"Then it wasn't alive at all, just energy shaped by something else."
"That explains the size…"
The conclusion spread quickly. Gigantic bodies like that couldn't exist naturally, unless sustained by something unnatural.
And now only one question remained.
Would the other one fall just as easily?
High above the battlefield, Ash hovered on Charizard, eyes fixed on the remaining giant Alakazam.
The fox-like Pokémon was visibly shaken.
Though long dead and sustained only by its anchor, it still retained fragments of emotion, and watching its counterpart vanish in an instant had triggered raw, instinctive fear.
Its massive body trembled.
Mewtwo, meanwhile, glanced briefly at the space where Gengar had disappeared.
She hadn't intended to destroy it.
She'd only applied enough Psychic force to immobilize it.
The fact that it had burst apart so easily told her everything.
It truly was nothing but condensed energy.
Her Psychic senses hadn't noticed earlier because the anchor, the black dumbbell, had masked its nature, saturating the space with Ghost-type energy.
A clever trick.
Useless against her.
Ghost and Psychic were mortal enemies.
If Gengar had an anchor, then Alakazam certainly did as well.
"One left," Ash said calmly. "Finish it."
Mewtwo nodded.
She raised her hand.
Panic flashed across the giant Alakazam's face. It retreated instinctively, crossing its spoons as a distorted beam of blue light tore through the air.
Psybeam.
Mewtwo flicked a single finger.
The beam froze in midair.
Then she sent it back.
BOOM!
Empowered by her Psychic force, the reflected Psybeam struck home, blowing the colossal Alakazam apart in a radiant explosion.
Golden light rained down across the battlefield, drifting like embers.
And just like that, the second giant vanished.