Delia's POV:

"You get the ones on the right. I'll get the remaining", Red told Ash and began to randomly release his Pokemon, who began to intimidate the copies of Giovanni.

"Right", he replied and then looked at me, before his glance darted back to Red.

"And keep your hands off my mother", he told Red who simply blinked in response, and I mirrored his expression.

"That's an order", Ash completed with an inherited smirk and walked back while Red scoffed.

"I am stronger than you. You don't have the rights to order me, young man", Red scolded Ash and he just laughed heartily, before walking towards the bulk of Team Rocket's boss.

"By the way, Ash, how did you know that I was being controlled?", he asked Ash who just smirked in return, turning back halfway in his tracks.

"Check the inner side of your palm", he smirked and I saw a small incision and Red's eyes widened.

"The second I saw the manner in which your pupils were dilated, I knew that something was wrong, so I 'lost' our battle, and while you had me in a headlock, I drew some blood from your palm, and gave it to Gary. His results said that your neurological functions were highly different, similar to that of a Pokemon under a Drowzee's hypnotic powers, so I kinda sorta came to know what happened", he added nonchalantly and Red just smiled with a small hint of pride.

"So, I didn't father a numbskull after all, huh?", Red mocked and I was already getting sick of the two of them putting each other down again and again, but this time, Ash rolled his eyes and bolted off on Charizard's back, while I noticed that Garchomp and Feraligatr were making their menus looking at the various Giovanni copies. Ash's Charizard let out a massive Flamethrower as a signal of beginning the battle and flew up, not before giving Red's Charizard a smug look. Like trainer, like Pokemon was the expression, and my son and his Charizard were the living meaning of the expression.

"You're coming with me", he whispered in my ear from behind and grabbed me by my waist, lifted me up and placed me on his Charizard's back.

"It's gonna be just like our first date", he told me chuckling and handed me a weapon.

"Are you sure?", I purred in his ear and he just smirked, before releasing his Pokemon.

The first few ones got incinerated by his Charizard, and I had absolutely NO clue as to why he made the copies charge towards us with no weapons. But the very next second, I got my answer, as a random green gas began to flow out from the burnt corpses, making Charizard go haywire. Red was having a difficult time attempting to control his starter, and I held onto him with all my might, hoping that I wouldn't fall down to my death.

"Essence of Darkrai! Where did he get this from?", Red snarled and suddenly, a larger Mega Charizard Y arrived next to us glaring at the copies.

"Tobias", Ash sighed and Red gave him a perplexed expression, which he returned.

"YOU were the one who assigned Tobias to stop us! I thought you'd remember that", Ash scolded and Red's eyes widened.

"What did I exactly do?", he asked Ash, shivering slightly and Ash sighed.

"He tapped into your medulla, huh? Don't worry. Let those memories be forgotten", Ash said and was about to fly away, but Red rushed forward and his Charizard flew in front of Ash's, and the two Charizards swept a dozen copies away in the meantime releasing the essence blankly into the sky.

"What..did..I..do?", Red asked Ash slowly and this time, he snapped.

"You have killed HUNDREDS of students, and you have PUBLICALLY executed Charles Goodshow, okay?", Ash told him and Red's breathing began to grow uneven, his eyes gaping like that of a Magikarp.

"I'm a curse. I have to die. I mustn't walk on this Earth anymore. Each second I walk, it's a risk. I shouldn't live anymore", he hyperventilated and Ash slapped him as hard as he could.

"LOOK! The guy who pulled out all of that stuff was NOT the real you, okay? You said it yourself. I'm not in a mood to kill you, but I'm willing to change it , so don't make me do so!", he yelled before shooting straight into a certain number of copies which melted again, much to his dissatisfaction.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU A*****ES IS THE REAL ONE?", he yelled and I was willing to let his poor language slide for this time alone.

"Why don't you find out?", one Giovanni asked, while I noticed that only a few of them were remaining alive.

"Frag them!!", Giovanni yelled and all of his copies brought out a green circular bomb, and Red asked Charizard to fly higher, hoping that gravity would do it's duty. By the corner of my eye, I noticed that most of the Giovanni copies had smirks on their faces, barring one. He was the only one sweating, and I found out the original one.

But before I could tell Red that I had found out the original Giovanni, an Incineroar, an Emboar and a Torkoal began to blow torrents of fire onto them, and I had not seen that much inferno throughout the whole time I had spent in the army.

He was the only one left standing, amidst all of the half burnt corpses and the rancid smell of burnt flesh.

"I heavily underestimated you and your son, Raymond. I should have brought more, or should have come to face you a tad bit stronger", Giovanni chuckled looking at us, and Red glared at Giovanni when he called him by his real name, which he loathed for some reason he never told me.

"But I won't repeat the same now", he said and pressed a lighter kind of a thing, disappearing from the spot.

"Where did he go?", I asked Red and he just shrugged his shoulders. I presumed that he had left the place to plan his next attempt to bring the world down to its knees, but to my surprise, he appeared RIGHT between Red and me, stabbed me in my abdomen, and toppled Red from Charizard's back, and zapped back to the ground in a jiffy.

Charizard however, maintained his balance and swooped down to the ground, and I jumped out from his back the very next second, limping after Red, and I noticed that he had stabbed me poorly, and I thanked my lucky stars.

"GET HELP! GO!!", Red yelled and pushed me back when I got near him, and continued his fist fight with Giovanni, while the latter kept transporting and hitting him with a club again and again.

"We've got this! Just go!", Ash pressed on, trying to figure out the pattern in which he was moving.

Though I could be adamant enough to stay, I decided that it was best if I listened to the two of them...for ONCE.

Red's POV:

Every now and then, I yelled out in anger and pain, due to the multiple hits and stand he left on me, and I was amazed as to how his body was able to handle the rapid shift in positions.

"Lucario, Greninja, FUSION!!", my son yelled and a wave of water, and Aura surrounded him, and when he walked out, his eyes were a mixture of his coffee brown, a bright shade of azure blue, and a deep shade of red.

Giovanni charged at him, transporting yet again, but this time, Ash found out his presence with his aura and caught him by his neck.

"Good, but not good enough, tough guy", he snarled and Giovanni's eyes grew in a bright shade of yellow, and Ash yelled out in pain.

"Feel the power of the Essence of Reshiram, boy! Burns, doesn't it?", he laughed and I hopelessly charged at him, only to be swept down by my feet yet again.

"How long will you do the same thing again and again? It's plain stupidity, Red", he smirked, but Ash charged at Giovanni with extreme anger, and Giovanni grinned at him sadistically, but this time, the grin slowly weakened and his breathing grew shallow.

He slowly looked down at his abdomen to see a small dart, fuming with a dark blue shade.

"Aura Dart of Sir Aaron", Ash drawled and Giovanni's eyes widened, and he gasped as the pain began to slowly take over. I used this moment to bring out my dagger and seal the deal.

His back was faced towards me, and I pushed the pain away, and jumped on his back, using the dagger on my hip to make a large diagonal laceration from the left side of his hip to his right shoulder, and he howled in pain, while Ash made a dagger from ice due to his synchronisation, and stabbed Giovanni's heart, and I brought him down to the ground, catching him by his collar.

"So, how does it feel to kill your former best friend?", he seethed and I just glared at him.

"You were my best friend when you had a dream of changing the world for good, not for the worse. The Giovanni I knew was not a bloodthirsty maniac", I countered and he just coughed.

"First Ly, then me, huh? Hell awaits traitors like you", he snarled and coughed again, this time spitting blood.

"Then I go there as a proud man, knowing that I've done right", I countered and he smiled at me in a condescending fashion before he closed his eyes for one final breath.

"Then I hope the world is a happy place now, Red. Just know that you'll ALWAYS need some evil for something good to happen. You have just taken out a small bolt from a large machine. Remember this, when you think of this day", he stressed and the light from his eyes faded away into the surrounding darkness. I sighed in relief that everything was over, until I heard a few footsteps and turned around to see a frantic Delia, who grappled the two of us into a crushing hug.

"Thank goodness the two of you are okay", she whispered and Ash just chuckled.

"You should have seen your hero", he mocked me and I just blushed in embarassment, and so did Delia.

Then, she let the two of us go and tackled me into another one, crushing my already weak lungs, and I noticed that a blonde girl just crashed into my son like a truck and he just chuckled softly, while she kept punching his chest, quite similar to that of Delia, and in a way, Ash was my clone, even by behaviour.

"So, I guess you would stay with me? Or are you dumping us again?", Delia asked me with that beautiful smile of hers. It hurt me more than all the times Giovanni hit me to give her the answer, but that was the best one I could give her.

"I have to go. I can't stay", I told her with a sigh and her face darkened, with tears slowly brimming at the corner of her eyes.

"But why?", she asked me and I just shrugged my shoulders.

"If I had trained myself better, I wouldn't have been a puppet for so long. I was powerful, but I was careless. I'm going to Mount Silver to train my senses. I cannot risk another situation like this. When I'm done, I promise I'll be back for you - the two of you", I promised her and she nodded her head.

I slowly turned around to see Ash who was still in the grasp of the beautiful girl, but at least, she wasn't hammering his chest with punches. Then, he turned around to see me, and let go of her.

"Ash, I know that words cannot give the proper apology for ALL the things I've done, but...I..I will try, Ash. I'll try to be the father I've never been to you. I promise", I told him offering my hand for a handshake HOPING that he'd take it, and he took it.

"You already have", he told me a small smile which I returned with a small nod of respect.

"Until next time, son", I told him and left to look at the love of my life. She didn't even bother to acknowledge the people around her and just kissed me as hard as she could.

"How can I talk to you?", she asked me and I just winked at her.

"I had lived there before, hon. I've set up antennas and radio towers. We're wired, okay? I'll send you a PidgeyMail every now and then", I told her before relishing her cookie flavoured lips for a final time before sitting on my Charizard, and I shot up into the air.

I turned back to see my son kissing his girlfriend, and Delia with her nieces and two boys who were busy scratching their heads, and at that moment, I was at peace, knowing that I had left the people I love at the hands of a capable young man, and I noticed the beautiful constellations on the sky, remembering each and every Delia had taught me, as the tapestry of stars gave me the peace I was longing for eighteen years.

To be continued....