I have added this story to my Patreon. You can support me and read the 40 latest and advanced chapters there. It also fed and motivate me to write more chapters!
Free Members will get 10 Chapters Ahead of the schedule on Patreon!!!
Link: Patreon.com/AVRKingsTL
—------------------—
"Boom!" Countless Hardened Plants shot up from the ground, directly burying the motionless Rhyperior.
Smoke billowed across the field, obscuring what had happened. Hardened Plants, a four-times super effective move, had struck Rhyperior, and even with Rhyperior's tough hide, the outcome was unlikely to be good.
As the smoke slowly dissipated, everyone saw that Rhyperior, nearly 2.7 meters tall, now had its hard armor completely pierced by the Hardened Plants!
Fragile plants, if allowed to grow, could become powerful enough to penetrate steel.
Rhyperior's face showed extreme pain; it didn't seem to have lost its battle capability yet, but its arms, body, and legs had all been pierced by the Hardened Plants. Even if it broke free, it probably wouldn't have any strength left to fight.
Giovanni's expression also turned grim at this moment. No wonder even Lorelei had suffered a setback despite a massive level advantage. This guy's Pokémon couldn't be judged by normal standards. The continuous Hardened Plants and this terrifying piercing attack caught him completely off guard.
In battle, a hair's breadth can be a thousand miles. Just a moment of dazed had reduced Rhyperior to this state. However, even if he had reacted faster, he wouldn't have had any effective counter-measures.
At most, it would have only prolonged Rhyperior's struggle a little longer.
"Sizzle sizzle sizzle!!" The Hardened Plants were pulled out of Rhyperior's body, blood splattering in the air. The blood holes on Rhyperior's body continuously gushed fresh red blood.
Ash frowned slightly and said, "Rhyperior can no longer fight. Recall him for treatment."
In a normal battle, Ash would never be so ruthless, but this battle not only concerned his own fate but also that of the entire world.
If Team Rockets's influence were halved, many people in the world would no longer suffer from Pokémon being stolen, bullied, or even harmed. Therefore, Ash absolutely could not show mercy in this battle.
The final result was a Superior-level Rhyperior being reduced to this state. The four-times super effectiveness, combined with Venusaur's vast life force, made this move simply too overpowered.
So Ash quickly had Venusaur retract the Hardened Plants and urged Giovanni to concede. If Rhyperior continued with such injuries, it wouldn't just be a matter of losing its battle capability; it would die!
Giovanni's eyes drooped slightly, then a cold voice emerged from him: "Rock Wrecker."
Rhyperior showed a pained expression but still forced its hands together in front of him. A terrifying Rock-type power condensed before him, instantly forming a massive rock!
But the moment the rock appeared, Rhyperior's face turned even paler, and the blood flowing from him was already forming 'puddles' on the ground.
Ash's expression changed dramatically. He shouted, "Giovanni! What are you doing! Rhyperior can no longer fight, recall him quickly!"
"Whether he can fight is up to me. As long as he hasn't lost his battle capability and hasn't fallen, he can still fight." Giovanni's face was expressionless, his words filled with cold indifference, showing no concern for Rhyperior's life or death.
To him, a Superior-level Rhyperior was merely a useful tool. He hadn't yet reached the stage of completely extinguishing his feelings for Pokémon, but that was only for his main Pokémon.
Such a rare and precious Superior-level Pokémon, in his eyes, wasn't even worth a vegetable.
His greatest value was in this battle: defeating Ash's Venusaur. In that case, he would think highly of Rhyperior and list him as a key training target for the future.
But if he died in this battle… then it only meant that this guy was only at this level.
"Damn it… Venusaur, turn the Hardened Plants into a barrier!" Seeing that Rock Wrecker was already fully charged, Ash had no time to argue with the opponent and quickly had Venusaur defend.
"Bana!" Venusaur was also filled with anger at the opponent's treatment of Rhyperior. If he could, he truly wanted to pierce the opponent's body with a Hardened Plant, but first, there was protection, and second, he couldn't actually bring himself to do it. Now, all he could do was defeat Rhyperior as soon as possible to free him.
As Venusaur's roar echoed, countless hard, thorny barbs shot up from below, then formed a solid and thick barrier in front of Venusaur.
"Roar!!" Rhyperior also let out a ferocious roar, unleashing the Rock Wrecker, which squeezed out all its strength. The Rock Wrecker flew out with a tearing whistle, like a falling meteor, stirring up dust along its path and even cracking the ground with its might, heading straight for Venusaur's thorny barrier.
"Boom—!" The moment the two collided, a deafening roar echoed throughout the arena. The Rock Wrecker slammed hard into the thorny barrier, the sharp thorns instantly piercing the rock surface, sending out a shower of gravel. But the momentum of the Rock Wrecker did not diminish, pushing the thorny barrier to continuously indent backward.
Countless Hardened Plants were directly shattered by the Rock Wrecker. Both sides' moves were rapidly consuming energy, and it was a matter of which side would run out of energy first and fall.
Giovanni watched this scene expressionlessly, roughly calculating in his mind. Although his Rhyperior was severely wounded, the opponent's Venusaur was still somewhat weaker than Rhyperior in terms of attack power. Therefore, the outcome of this clash should be a victory for his Rhyperior.
However, even so, Rhyperior would definitely not have any battle capability afterward, while the opponent's Venusaur was still at full strength. Even if the Rock Wrecker hit, it would be impossible to take him out directly, so he would lose this battle either way.
But it didn't matter. Giovanni never expected to win this battle. It was just that a Superior-level Pokémon fighting a Superior-level Pokémon and being beaten to this state made Giovanni feel a bit embarrassed.
However, the world is about the victor taking all. As long as he can win the final victory, what if this battle was ugly?
But what Giovanni didn't expect was that he would lose far more uglily than he imagined.
The Rock Wrecker continuously crushed the Hardened Plants, but an endless stream of new green plants emerged from the ground, firmly blocking the Rock Wrecker outside Venusaur's domain.
No matter how the Hardened Plants shattered, the Rock Wrecker could never cross the line. The two sides were in a stalemate for more than ten seconds, and eventually, the growth rate of the Hardened Plants still couldn't keep up with the destruction rate of the Rock Wrecker.
When the Rock Wrecker had shrunk to less than fifty centimeters in diameter, the Hardened Plants were blasted open, but what greeted the Rock Wrecker were dozens of spinning, sharp leaves!
Razor Leaf!
"Swish swish swish!" The blades sliced through the rock, pulverizing the last of the Rock Wrecker!
Rock Wrecker was indeed slightly stronger than Hardened Plants, but this Hardened Plant was used by Venusaur at the beginning. He didn't need to allocate energy to create it; it would derive on its own.
So he still had extra strength to use other moves. Therefore, as long as Razor Leaf was used after Hardened Plants finished, the remaining Rock Wrecker would be directly cut into pieces.
After using Rock Wrecker, Rhyperior collapsed directly before Venusaur could counterattack!
The Rock Wrecker just now was his last bit of strength. After using it, Rhyperior fell into a coma, completely losing its battle capability.
Giovanni expressionlessly recalled Rhyperior, then casually threw the Poké Ball aside, saying coldly, "Useless thing, couldn't even defeat a Superior-level Pokémon."
"What are you doing! That's your Pokémon!!" Giovanni's actions made Ash's face sink, and he shouted at him angrily.
Giovanni was unmoved: "My Pokémon? Don't be ridiculous, he's just a reserve Pokémon. He originally had a chance to become my main Pokémon, but unfortunately, he didn't seize this opportunity. After this battle, I'll directly exile him to be experimented on."
Ash: … Giovanni's words made Ash clench his fists tightly, the anger on his face almost overflowing. This was the leader of Team Rockets, even worse than his subordinates. Even Team Rockets Trio had never made him so angry.
Although those three guys always thought about doing bad things, they actually rarely succeeded in doing them. Most importantly, they still retained a love for Pokémon, and when they saw Pokémon in tragic situations, they would unconsciously offer help.
This was also one of the reasons Ash repeatedly let them go.
But this person in front of him… he was rotten to the core!
This person was the one who should be thrown into prison, never to be released!
The cruel personality of Mewtwo, as Blaine said, must be related to this guy. Today, he not only had to disband Team Rockets but also rescue Mewtwo from Giovanni's hands!
"You won the first battle. As a reward, here's this." Giovanni said, pulling out a metal badge like a green leaf from his pocket and throwing it over.
Ash caught it casually, then took a look. This was the proof of defeating the Viridian Gym Leader, the Green Badge.
He pinned it inside his shirt. With this, he had collected all eight badges. Although Ash didn't really want this guy's badge, compared to saving time to focus on training and not having to travel around looking for badges, he still chose to accept this badge.
Whether it was righteous or evil, as long as he could participate in the Indigo Plateau Conference, that was fine.
"The battle between Gym Leaders has ended. Now, as the leader of Team Rockets, I will have a second battle with you. You should have collected eight badges by now, right? After you become a member of Team Rockets, go participate in the Indigo Plateau Conference and win the championship, then reveal your identity as a Team Rockets member from the Champion's position. At that time, the expressions of the League and those spectators will surely be very interesting!" Saying this, Giovanni's face showed a sinister smile.
From the very beginning, he intended that even if Ash became a member of Team Rockets, he would still make Ash go to the Indigo Plateau Conference.
When he became the Conference Champion and then revealed his Team Rockets identity, the expressions of those hypocrites in the League would surely be very interesting.
As for whether Ash's identity would be exposed early… besides the people present, who would have thought Ash would join Team Rockets? If Ash lost, could these people still leave here? Impossible!
However, Giovanni didn't realize that the pinhole camera on Ash's collar had already recorded everything here. Even if there was a one in ten thousand chance that Ash became a member of Team Rockets, if he dared to let Ash go, Ash would immediately be apprehended by Lorelei and Agatha and taken back to the League to find a solution.
However, all the above situations were based on the premise that Ash would lose. Would Ash lose? That depended on who Giovanni's next Pokémon would be.
"My second Pokémon is… Go, Mewtwo." Giovanni waved his hand, sending a floating Pokémon, covered in machinery, onto the field.
After a momentary pause, Mewtwo slowly floated onto the field. At the same time, Giovanni also removed most of the mechanical restraints on Mewtwo. At this point, Mewtwo's level was unleashed to initial Champion-level.
This level was still within Giovanni's controllable range. If it were to increase further, even Giovanni would find it difficult to control.
As Mewtwo appeared, the expressions of the three people outside the barrier began to change. Misty and Brock didn't expect Giovanni to be so ruthless, even sending out not his own Pokémon for the second Pokémon, but the artificial Pokémon, Mewtwo!
As soon as they entered, Misty and Brock already knew that the Pokémon covered in machinery was Mewtwo because Ash had said that Mewtwo was going to attack Gary, which was why he rushed in.
But Gary didn't know this Pokémon was Mewtwo!
When he heard Giovanni say he was sending out Mewtwo and saw the Pokémon next to him float out, Gary's face turned green!
Damn it, was he fighting Mewtwo just now?!
He didn't know Mewtwo's origin, nor what Mewtwo looked like, but he roughly knew what level of Pokémon Mewtwo was from Blaine's description.
It was a terrifying Pokémon that even Blaine feared, stating that Champion-level Pokémon were mere fodder in front of it. Gary had once said he probably wouldn't have any dealings with Mewtwo.
After all, with his current strength, even if he encountered Mewtwo, Mewtwo probably wouldn't even look at him.
But he never expected that Giovanni, that B, would be so vengeful! He just casually mocked the other party, didn't he? Was it necessary to bring Mewtwo to fight him?!
No wonder its level was only Superior, yet it managed to completely crush all his Pokémon, not even leaving him the strength to fight back!