"So, kid," Lambda sneered coldly,
"what other tricks are you planning to pull?"
A cruel smile spread across his face as he flicked a finger.
Golbat immediately understood, its eyes locking onto Ash like a predator.
If Ash dared to make even the slightest move—if he so much as reached for a Poké Ball—Golbat would sever one of his arms on the spot.
This wasn't a threat.
To Lambda, crippling someone was routine.
The pressure returned to Ash in full force.
Ash: "..."
The fourth floor of Pokémon Tower was now completely clear of fog—wide, empty, and barren.
Only a few scattered gravestones and broken planks remained. There was nowhere to hide.
He couldn't throw a Poké Ball.
He couldn't retreat.
It looked like a dead end.
But the most important thing was—
Red hadn't spoken.
Which meant there was still a way to turn this around.
Where's the opening?!
Ash's eyes darted wildly as sweat dripped down his face. He searched desperately for any path to victory.
Whoosh—!
In that brief moment of distraction, Golbat struck.
Its dark-blue body vanished like a phantom and reappeared behind Ash's head.
"Skree!"
One wing bent sharply, the razor-like edge stopping just short of Ash's neck.
Only when the bone-chilling cold brushed his skin did Ash snap back to reality, shuddering violently.
Damn it!
Is Red asleep in there?!
"It's over," Lambda said calmly as he stepped closer, murder burning in his eyes.
"No matter what secrets you're hiding, you're taking them straight to hell with you."
"Wait—let me explain!" Ash shouted desperately, buying himself one precious second.
Lambda raised an eyebrow, considered it briefly, then signaled Golbat to pause.
Ash felt like cursing a fully evolved Arcanine as he gulped in air and tried one last gamble.
"Cough—well, you see, Apollo is actually my good friend—"
"How coincidental," Lambda replied flatly.
"I hate him to the bone. His friends die first."
He turned away.
"Wait! Lambda—no, Brother Lambda!" Ash blurted out.
"I'm… not that close to Apollo."
"Even better. I kill strangers too."
"WAIT!"
Ash shouted again.
"I actually just joined Team Rocket this year!"
Lambda looked at him like he'd lost his mind.
Team Rocket would recruit a ten-year-old idiot?
"Really! Musashi, Kojirō, Meowth—we trained together! They'll vouch for me!"
Seeing Lambda still unconvinced, Ash went all in, words spilling out like machine-gun fire:
"To protect the world from devastation! To unite all peoples within our nation—@￥#&*%—that's our debut slogan! You can find our interview video on the Team Rocket website!"
…That was probably a thing, right?
Lambda frowned slightly.
He still didn't believe Ash—but that over-the-top, painfully cringe introduction did sound exactly like Team Rocket's bottom-tier grunts.
Then his eyes darkened with killing intent.
"But you've misunderstood something," he said coldly.
"I don't care who you are. I only want your secret."
Even if Giovanni himself were in Ash's position, Lambda would still cut him down.
Team Rocket coworkers?
Expendable stepping stones.
He turned—
And the situation changed again.
"Oh," Ash said calmly, his confidence fully restored,
"you're the one who misunderstood something."
Lambda froze.
Ash smiled.
"Lambda… you can turn around now."
Ash finally understood where Red had been waiting for the counterattack.
Lambda spun around—
Cubone, which had been lying unconscious, was now standing.
Thick black energy coiled around its body.
Lambda's gaze shot toward the stairwell.
As expected—
Ghost Marowak was gone.
The black aura intensified.
Cubone's skin darkened from yellow-brown to deep black-brown.
With a sharp crack, the skull on its head split open at the center, forming a star-shaped fissure.
A terrifying, ghostly presence erupted.
Yet something was still missing.
Cubone's body trembled, its expression pained—as if the transformation was incomplete.
"Ash…"
A voice echoed in Ash's mind.
His grin widened.
"Charmander!" he shouted.
"Use your strongest Flamethrower—on Cubone!"
At some point, the battered Charmander had forced itself back to its feet.
Without hesitation, its tail flame flared violently.
A scorching torrent of fire blasted straight toward Cubone.
"BOOM!!"
Flames roared skyward like a pillar of light.
Lambda stood frozen.
What—what—what the hell is happening?!
"Cubone!"
A cry rang out from within the flames.
Suddenly, the raging fire compressed inward, collapsing in an instant.
The inferno vanished.
The silence was terrifying.
Then—
Fwoosh.
Cubone ignited.
Black-blue flames erupted across its body—cold, eerie ghostfire.
The heat was low, but the chill it radiated pierced straight into the soul.
Even the tip of its bone club burned with that spectral blue flame.
"Cubone!"
It dragged the bone club across the floor.
The ghostfire surged violently.
With a sharp motion, Cubone hurled the flaming bone.
Lambda barely had time to think:
Ground-type attack—Flying-types are immune—
The next second—
Golbat was smashed point-blank.
It was blasted several meters away, ghostfire clinging to its body.
After a few piercing, ghostly shrieks, Golbat collapsed—defeated.
"How is this possible?!" Lambda screamed, eyes bulging.
A mutation?
Pokémon weren't supposed to mutate!
"How is it not possible?!"
A roar exploded beside him.
Lambda whipped his head around—
A paper charm fan was already filling his vision.
SMACK.
Once wasn't enough.
SMACK!!
Ash delivered a brutal double strike.
Lambda was sent flying, his head ringing as if struck by a massive bronze bell at point-blank range.
He never even had the chance to release his ace—Crobat.
Moments later, he lay sprawled on the floor, tongue half out.
For reasons unknown, his Ditto double collapsed at the same time.
Ash sneered.
"Tch. Had to finish the job myself."
The fan might not work on non-Ghosts—
But with enough force, Ash was confident he could knock Arceus out of the sky.
"Always confirm the knockout."
Ash immediately summoned Bulbasaur and bound both Lambdas into a tight vine restraint.
He wouldn't kill anyone—but tying people up with Bulbasaur?
That was his specialty.
Only then did he finally turn back toward Cubone.
Cubone's body structure was unchanged—still small, still the same shape.
But its skin had darkened.
The skull bore a fractured star-shaped mark.
Ghostly blue flames danced along its bone club.
A faint aura of death clung to it.
"This is… like a half-Alolan form Cubone," Red said quietly in Ash's mind.
He had traveled to Alola with Green and Blue before.
He had seen the special Marowak there.
Ghost and Fire.
That was why Red had ordered Charmander to use Flamethrower.
Alolan Marowak possessed ghostly energy—but also flame.
Cubone had the ghost… but lacked the fire.
That final spark was the trigger.
What puzzled Red was that even in Alola, Cubone itself looked normal.
The transformation only occurred after evolution.
Perhaps Alola's strong spiritual culture—its totems and ancestral beliefs—had saturated the land with ghostly energy.
This world was different.
Even Red could only sigh at how reality diverged from the game.
At that moment, the Pokédex spoke.
"Beep. Cubone (Mutated Form).
The Lonely Pokémon.
Through the final gift of its mother's soul, it has undergone a special mutation.
Its type has changed from Ground to Ghost / Fire."
As the words faded, the black aura surrounding Cubone separated from its body—
Taking the shape of Marowak's spirit.
Tears streamed from Cubone's eyes through the cracks in its skull.
It dropped its bone club and reached out.
The spirit Marowak, now free of all hatred, looked peaceful.
It opened its arms.
Fwoosh.
The black mist dispersed.
Its lingering will fulfilled, the spirit vanished forever from this world.
Only Cubone remained—
Standing alone, clutching its bone club.
Crying.
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