Ash withdrew his Aura from the Soul Dew slowly and frowned.
"It's rejecting me," he said. "My life force isn't being accepted. He's refusing the energy."
Lorenzo's face fell. "I thought... I was hoping there'd be a straightforward answer."
"There usually isn't." Ash handed the Soul Dew back carefully. He'd opened his mouth to ask Latios and Latias something else entirely when the sky outside the museum lit up with five distinct trails of smoke.
"Tracking missiles," Ash said, already moving.
His Mangekyō Sharingan activated in the same breath. "Susanoo."
The half-formed giant erupted around them in a wash of crimson, ribs of spectral energy closing into a dome just as the missiles struck.
"BOOM. BOOM. BOOM."
The impact rocked the barrier hard enough that dust rained down from the museum's ceiling. Outside, the explosions had already drawn screaming from the street.
"The Soul Dew!" Lorenzo's voice cracked with panic. "It's gone!"
Black smoke rolled through the chamber, swallowing visibility entirely.
Ash's jaw tightened. Sanna and Oakley are both in custody. So who else knows about this.
"BOOM. BOOM. BOOM."
A second volley hit before the first had finished settling, forcing Susanoo to hold form under continuous bombardment.
"Whoever's firing these knows exactly what they're doing," Ash muttered. "Timed to keep me pinned."
He couldn't drop the barrier, not with Lorenzo and Bianca inside it, and not with civilians who had no defenses of their own. Sabrina could shield herself. Latios and Latias could too, in theory. But the rest couldn't.
A faint mechanical whir cut through the smoke, impossible to localize over the ringing aftermath of the explosions.
"Gardevoir." Ash's voice was clipped. "Get everyone out. Now."
"Sana~" Gardevoir's eyes lit blue, her field wrapping around the entire group inside Susanoo, Lorenzo, Bianca, James, Jessie, Meowth, Sabrina, even Latios and Latias.
A flash of light, and they were gone.
Neither Legendary had Teleport in their movepool despite their psychic typing. Some abilities simply didn't pass down regardless of type affinity.
...
Ash watched the dome empty out and let Susanoo collapse.
"Now let's see who this is."
He shot skyward in a single Geppo step, eyes scanning the smoke-choked rooftops below.
"Tekkai." His body flashed faintly white, hardening from the inside out, and he pushed off again, closing distance toward the missile launch point at speed. A stray round caught him mid-flight and detonated against his shoulder. He didn't slow down.
There. A small aircraft cutting low over the rooftops, the Soul Dew visible inside its open cargo hatch.
"Not happening." Ash's leg swept in a wide arc. "Rankyaku."
A crescent blade of compressed air tore free from his foot and crossed the gap in an instant.
Below, the city was in chaos. The missiles hadn't been limited to his location, other districts were burning too, civilians pouring into the streets in a panic that made the whole island feel like it was under siege.
"Slash."
The blade cut the aircraft cleanly in half. The Soul Dew tumbled free, falling through open air, and Ash dropped after it in a controlled dive, closing the distance in a breath.
His fingers were inches from it.
Then the Soul Dew jerked sideways, accelerating away from his hand at a speed that defied its own weight, streaking toward a fixed point below.
"What."
Ash followed the trajectory down.
Archer stood on a rooftop terrace, the Sea Crown raised in his right hand, watching the Soul Dew rocket directly into his waiting left palm.
"I was starting to think this would be boring," Archer said, smiling thinly. "Turns out the Crown calls to its own kind. Should have known."
"Team Rocket's number one executive," Ash said, landing a measured distance away. "Archer."
"You know my name. I'm flattered." Archer's eyes were cold, unbothered. "Your days of getting in my way are over, Ash Ketchum. Let me show you what real power looks like."
He pressed the Soul Dew against the gem set into the Sea Crown.