"Giovanni of the Earth. Champion-level strength, but still not quite there yet."
The smoke in the mountains hadn't fully cleared.
A tall, lean figure walked out from the trees not far away.
Mewtwo kept the brim of a baseball cap pulled low. Psychic power warped the light across his face, leaving only a tightly set jawline visible.
Bzzzz...
A Beedrill hovered at Mewtwo's side, its twin stingers gleaming with a metallic sheen as its wings vibrated with a high, piercing buzz.
Giovanni "staggered" up from beside the overturned vehicle frame, his palm "casually" pressing against his bleeding temple.
"To command a Beedrill like that... and to change your appearance every time you show up..."
Giovanni's expression shifted, as if a realization struck him. He nailed a perfectly "disbelieving" look and said,
"Don't tell me... you're the boss of Team Rocket?"
Under the shadow of the cap, Mewtwo's mouth curled into the exact same kind of smile Giovanni had worn earlier.
"That's right. I'm the boss of Team Rocket."
"Today, I'm taking in this dark scientist, Mr. Colress."
"Otherwise, my Beedrill's stingers aren't exactly dull."
Mewtwo's tone was arrogant, and a vast psychic pressure rolled off him.
"What?! Team Rocket's boss is actually a psychic?! This kind of power... it's even stronger than Gym Leader Sabrina, isn't it?"
Off to the side, the driver who'd been rescued and was now watching the show stared in shock.
He knew what was going on with Sabrina. Most of the time, she was practically glued to Grey, which gave her a solid alibi.
Besides, truly powerful Trainers in Kanto were rare.
And psychics were even rarer.
All these years, only Sabrina had really become famous.
And her reputation wasn't exactly great.
If Sabrina didn't currently have ties to Grey, that driver might've seriously wondered whether this was Sabrina in disguise...
Of course, the odds were low.
Not far away—
Under the driver's gaze, Giovanni "struggled" to straighten up.
The dust and blood stains on his uniform only made him look more grimly heroic.
"Heh. I'm a Gym Leader of the Kanto region!"
He raised a Pokeball with his injured arm trembling, but his voice was unnaturally firm:
"If you want to take a criminal away, you'll have to get past my Pokemon first."
"Nidoking, go!"
"Nido!"
The roar thundered from Nidoking's throat, and the ground instantly split with cracks.
Six stone pillars blasted up from below, forming a perfect hexagonal prison that sealed Mewtwo inside!
Energy churned through the earth between the cracks like molten lava, making the baseball-capped Mewtwo flicker in and out of light.
"A boring little trick. If Giovanni of the Earth is only capable of this..."
Mewtwo shrugged with both hands in his pockets, his voice oddly disappointed.
"Then Kanto really isn't much, is it?"
The moment he finished speaking, Mewtwo vanished—Teleport.
Boom!!!
Nidoking's earth power slammed into empty air.
Molten energy scorched the ground into crater after crater. Even just looking at the aftermath, you could tell the attack was no joke.
But no matter how strong a move was, if it didn't hit, it meant nothing.
"Beedrill. Do it. Let them see the gap between you and me."
Mewtwo spoke calmly, as if he had no opinion about the outcome at all.
Like this was simply how it was supposed to be.
A faint, unmistakable confidence bled from him.
No roaring, no theatrics—just the kind of contemptuous certainty that felt like something he'd been born with.
"Bzzzz..."
Beedrill's twin stingers flared with violet light. Its wings beat at high frequency, carving afterimages through the air.
Slash!
Cold light flashed!
Beedrill moved!
In the next instant, the tip of its stinger drove into Nidoking's neck.
The toxin spread visibly along Nidoking's blood vessels, and its massive body went rigid before crashing down with a heavy thud, kicking up a ring of dust.
"...Huh?"
The driver's brain short-circuited.
A Nidoking with four-times Poison resistance got one-shot by Poison Jab?
And it wasn't even some legendary—it was a Beedrill using Poison Jab?
He turned to look at Nidoking, then at Beedrill.
A wave of absurdity washed over him.
Team Rocket's boss was way too terrifying...
Mewtwo lifted a hand slightly, and Beedrill obediently drifted back to his side.
Loyal as a knight.
"Gym Leader Giovanni! Hurry—take my Pidgeot and go!"
The driver had already pulled out a Pokeball.
No matter what, at least one Champion-level mainstay had to survive!
"Trying to run? Not happening."
Mewtwo sneered. The driver was blasted backward on the spot, slamming into the ground and passing out.
Giovanni "resisted with everything he had," but in no time at all, Mewtwo soloed him like he was nothing more than trash by the roadside.
...
...
"Mr. Colress, it's time we left."
After confirming neither of them would be getting back up anytime soon, Mewtwo took Colress and left.
"Why did you save me?"
Once he was sure he was actually safe, Colress let out a breath—but he still couldn't understand why Team Rocket wanted him.
Team Plasma's technology?
Data on Genesect?
Or...
Had they set their sights on some theory he hadn't even published yet?
Whoosh—
A mountain breeze swept through Colress's hair.
Mewtwo's voice drifted into his ears:
"Team Rocket never allows a genius scientist—meaning you, Colress—to be buried by fools."
The smile beneath the cap brim was perfectly measured: superior and appraising, yet carrying a faint hint of appreciation for talent.
A genius abandoned by Team Plasma would be reborn in Team Rocket.
Colress's fingertips trembled slightly.
After all these years, this was the first time anyone had placed the word "genius" right next to his name.
Even though his rational mind still screamed warnings, that long-lost heat in his chest had already betrayed his hesitation.
Team Plasma?
Just a bunch of morons who set him up, that's all.
He'd been there less than a few months, and they'd already thrown him into a mission this dangerous—he'd almost been hauled off to prison.
That feeling of being used like a gun didn't sit well with him.
"Boss of Team Rocket... what do you need me to do?"
Colress asked.
"Hm..."
Mewtwo looked thoughtful, then said,
"Take Team Rocket's materials back to Team Plasma and act as an undercover agent. Use their funding."
"Huh?"
Colress opened his mouth slightly, but only a sound came out.
The sheer irony of the "onboarding task" almost made him want to clap.
Use Team Plasma's money to raise a Team Rocket spy?
He adjusted his glasses and suddenly felt like the binding marks on his wrist didn't hurt so much anymore.
"Alright. Right here."
Mewtwo stopped, lifted a hand, and sent Colress away.
As for where he ended up—well, that depended on Colress's own luck.
...
...
"So you just abducted Colress like that?"
After hearing Mewtwo's account, Grey found it a little strange.
"Whatever. No point thinking too much."
Grey decided it was better to have one less headache.
Ding-dong—
His phone ringtone suddenly rang out.
Grey picked it up and saw it was a message from Bruno!
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.