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"Bang!" A muffled sound rang out. Gary waited for a moment, realizing he seemed fine, and the sound had come from right in front of him… Gary slowly opened his eyes and saw a back with a Pikachu on its shoulder, standing in front of him.
"Yo, Gary, how come you've become so disheveled after a while?" Ash slightly turned his head, a smile on his lips.
"Ash!!! How did you get here?!" The moment he saw Ash, a look of Joy appeared on Gary's face. He never would have thought that the person who saved him this time would be Ash.
After all, the Viridian Gym only allowed one group of people in at a time, and no one could have known what he encountered inside. So, the moment Mewtwo unleashed Psyshock, he thought he was completely done for.
Yet, Ash appeared before him like a divine soldier descending from the heavens, directly saving him. If it were a girl, he would have offered himself to her!
"Don't look at me like that, it's disgusting!" Ash's cool pose ultimately couldn't withstand Gary's lingering gaze. He rolled his eyes as he said this, then turned his head to look at the Pokémon in front and the person standing in the Trainer's seat.
Is this Pokémon, covered in strange machinery, Mewtwo? The guy commanding Mewtwo must be Giovanni.
This was Ash's first time meeting Giovanni. The moment he saw him, Ash felt immense pressure. Although he looked like a kind uncle on the surface, the aura emanating from him made it clear that this person was no ordinary individual, giving off a feeling that anyone who defied him would be instantly crushed to dust.
"Ash!!" Misty and Brock arrived late. They first glanced at the surrounding scene, and upon seeing Blastoise and other Pokémon lying on the ground, their expressions all turned very grim.
If they had held a glimmer of hope before entering, then this scene truly told them that Giovanni was the leader of Team Rockets, and this was not a mistake in Lorelei's intelligence.
"How are you, Gary? Are you alright?" Brock, after surveying the situation, also asked Gary with concern. They and Gary were old acquaintances, having recently been spectators together at the volcano.
Yet, in just a few days, Gary had become so battered. From the scattered Pokémon around, Gary must have employed a group attack strategy, but he was instantly overwhelmed by the opponent. He didn't even have time to recall his Pokémon into their Poké Balls.
It was clear that before Ash arrived, Gary must have been in grave danger.
"I'm fine, Ash arrived in time, so I wasn't hurt. But how did you all get in? The Viridian Gym shouldn't allow a second group of people in, right?" Gary, supporting himself to stand up, took out his Poké Balls and recalled Blastoise and other Pokémon one by one.
"Ash said he sensed you were in the Gym and in danger, so we rushed over immediately," Misty replied, her gaze never leaving Giovanni.
"Mr. Giovanni, why… why are you the leader of Team Rockets? You are the pride of our Kanto Gym Leaders!" Misty looked at Giovanni, speaking each word with a hint of undeniable pain in her voice.
As one of the Gym Leaders, Giovanni was an object of her admiration, both in the past and even until recently.
She wanted to become a superwoman like Lorelei, and also someone like Giovanni, who had developed his Gym to an unparalleled level.
If one day the Cerulean Gym could achieve the same fame as the Viridian Gym, she might even wake up smiling in her sleep.
However, today, one of her dreams quietly shattered. Giovanni's identity and his actions were a huge blow to Misty!
Giovanni shrugged casually after hearing Misty's question: "It seems that woman Lorelei told you a lot of things. But little girl, there's one thing you need to understand: I am first and foremost the leader of Team Rockets, and only secondarily the Gym Leader of the Viridian Gym."
"It is because of my identity and position as the leader of Team Rockets that I can also have such a prominent status and strength in the open. If I had become a Gym Leader first, do you think I could have reached my current level?"
Giovanni's nonchalant statement silenced everyone present. Leaving aside the moral aspect, what Giovanni said was indeed true.
If he had become the Viridian Gym Leader first, he might not have reached this level at his age. The biggest difference between Team Rockets and the League is that the former can use any deceitful means.
As the founder of Team Rockets, Giovanni was supported by an entire organization, ultimately becoming a generation's overlord. How could a mere Viridian Gym provide him with the resources he needed?
Moreover, if it weren't for his identity as the leader of Team Rockets, he might not even have become the Gym Leader of the Viridian Gym.
So, Misty's accusation was simply unreasonable. He was first the leader of Team Rockets, and then the Gym Leader of the Viridian Gym. If anything, he should have betrayed Team Rockets and joined the League.
Now, he was merely returning to his original position.
Everyone present was speechless by Giovanni's words. Misty and the others truly couldn't think of any reason to refute, while Ash was carefully observing Mewtwo in the arena.
Undoubtedly, this was the artificial genetic Pokémon Blaine mentioned. The Mewtwo before him was clearly not its true form; its power was completely bound by those machines.
[Species: Mewtwo]
[Gender: Female] (Referring to Mewtwo's voice in the Genesect and the Legend Awakened movie, though normally Mewtwo should be genderless~)
[Type: Psychic]
[Level: Superior Peak (Champion Peak)]
[Ability: Pressure]
[Moves: A lot]
[Six-dimensional stats: Physical Attack S (S) Special Attack S (S) Defense S (S) Special Defense S (S) HP S (S) Speed S (S)]
An extremely luxurious stat panel, with all six-dimensional stats not only having an S-rank upper limit but also already trained to S-rank. However, for a Pokémon like Mewtwo, this is actually nothing special.
After all, even the second specimen Ralts created by Blaine had S-rank potential in all stats, and Mewtwo was a new Pokémon created by fusing and incorporating various powerful genes, with Mew's genes as the dominant factor. To have this level can only be said to be natural.
What concerned Ash the most was Mewtwo's level. It had two levels: Superior Peak and Champion Peak.
The latter should be Mewtwo's current true level, while the former was its strength in its current state.
He could feel that the machine on Mewtwo's body greatly suppressed its power, preventing Mewtwo from unleashing its full strength.
Although he didn't know why Giovanni did this, Ash felt that this level of machinery shouldn't be able to forcibly restrain Mewtwo. The reason Mewtwo's strength was suppressed was more likely due to its own will.
Aside from the machine on Mewtwo, its strength, as Blaine said, was suppressed to the Champion level. If it weren't for the missing mental essence, with its talent, it might have already reached the Divine Realm level by now.
'Who… are you?' A cold, mature female voice echoed in Ash's mind. For a moment, Ash almost hallucinated it as Gardevoir's voice, but he quickly realized that Gardevoir's voice still had some tonal differences from this one.
Among the people and Pokémon present, the only one who would use telepathy on him, besides the Pokémon in front of him, should be impossible… 'My name is Ash, a Trainer who will become a Pokémon Master!' Ash didn't know why Mewtwo would initiate a conversation with him, but he still truthfully told Mewtwo the slogan he had been shouting all along.
'Ash… there's something on you… that's attracting me… what is it…'
Ash: !!!
Gardevoir was exposed?!
Upon hearing what Mewtwo said, Ash's first reaction was this, but he immediately dismissed the thought.
If Gardevoir were exposed, Mewtwo's emotions would certainly not be so calm. That was its mental essence; it might not recognize anything else, but it would never fail to recognize its mental essence.
So, the item Mewtwo sensed could not be Gardevoir. What else could it be?
Ash thought for a moment, then his expression changed—the MEGA Evolution Stone!
Besides Gardevoir, the only thing on him that would attract Mewtwo was the MEGA Evolution Stone.
And the MEGA Evolution Stone was in his spatial backpack.
Both being spatial items, Mewtwo could sense the MEGA Evolution Stone in the spatial backpack but couldn't sense Gardevoir in the Poké Ball. That was naturally not because Mewtwo was more sensitive to the Stone, but because the mental essence was hidden inside Gardevoir's body.
This meant Mewtwo would have to sense the mental essence through both the Poké Ball and Gardevoir, so of course, it couldn't detect it.
'Why… aren't you answering?' A hint of confusion was revealed in Mewtwo's voice. Ash had clearly answered her with telepathy just now, but the second conversation received no response.
'Because I don't know how to say it. Perhaps what I have does belong to you, but you can't use it yet. As long as you are still in Giovanni's hands, you won't have the chance to use what I have.'
Upon hearing this, Mewtwo's head tilted silently, as if unable to comprehend the meaning of Ash's words.
What did he mean by something that belonged to him but couldn't be given to him? Do humans always speak so convolutedly?
"You must be Ash, right?" After a long silence, Giovanni finally spoke first. He felt that his goal had been achieved, which was to make the atmosphere among Ash and the others who entered extremely heavy.
This way, whether he wanted to battle Ash or capture Ash later, it would be relatively easy.
But what Giovanni didn't know was that Ash didn't care about the atmosphere at all… "I am Ash, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Giovanni. When I learned you were the leader of Team Rockets, I was somewhat disbelieving at first. I was wondering why the League would allow you, a leader of Team Rockets, to become Kanto's strongest Gym Leader."
"Heh heh, this is a deal between me and the League. The League isn't as good as you imagine."
"More words are useless. Since you and I are now enemies, I will not be swayed by your incitement. I only want to ask, are you battling me now as the Viridian Gym Leader, or as the leader of Team Rockets?!" Ash's gaze sharpened, and his voice gradually became colder.
Ash was completely unmoved by Giovanni's disparagement. What the League was like was the League's business. Among the League personnel he had encountered, Professor Oak, Blaine, Joy, Lorelei, and the Gym Leaders from various places were all very good people.
So no matter what Giovanni said, he would only base it on what he experienced, even if Giovanni was speaking the truth.
"Tsk tsk, no wonder you could achieve this at such a young age. This kind of mind is something many people lack… If I said I would battle you as the leader of Team Rockets, what would you do?" Giovanni threw the question back to Ash.
"Then I will do my best to defeat you and send you to prison."
"Oh? Do you mean that if I battle you as the Viridian Gym Leader, you won't use your full strength? I'm quite curious, what exactly is your full strength?" Giovanni raised an eyebrow, speaking with interest.
To put it bluntly, Ash's apparent combat power couldn't even get past one of his main Pokémon. The only one that seemed somewhat powerful was the Bulbasaur that defeated Koga's Crobat.
However, why that Bulbasaur could exert such power, and whether it could be replicated, was still a question mark. To burst out Champion-level power at such a weak level, Giovanni absolutely wouldn't believe there was no cost.
Aside from that Bulbasaur, Giovanni didn't even care about Ash's other Pokémon, including that Pikachu.
"Why don't you try and see?" Ash did not directly answer Giovanni's question.
"Alright, then I'll battle you as half Gym Leader, half Team Rockets leader. What do you say?" Giovanni wasn't annoyed; instead, he followed Ash's words and proposed a condition.
"Half Gym Leader, half Team Rockets leader?" Not to mention Ash, even Lorelei, who was watching the monitor, was utterly confused. What kind of operation was this?
"This Giovanni, he's truly interested in that young man. He's even saying things like that. He still seems to have the idea of recruiting that young man into Team Rockets," beside Lorelei was an old woman with a wrinkled face and a slightly hunched body.
If anyone from Kanto were here, they would recognize at a glance that this seemingly frail old woman was actually one of Kanto's Four Elites, Agatha, known as the Ghost Elite!