Chapter 256: Ash, Someone Wants to Meet You
Author: Samsung Charmander (Author Name)
"Heh, so this is the infamous boss of the Kanto Region, Giovanni? Seeing you bow your head in defeat is truly disgusting."
Green scoffed, his face filled with ridicule.
"To let a single Mewtwo cloud your judgment... so much for your grand ambitions. Is this what you call being invincible?"
Hearing this, Giovanni subconsciously tightened his grip on the railing. His face turned ashen, and the rage in his heart surged.
Never in his life had he been bested. Today, for the first time ever, he had admitted defeat to a blond-haired brat, only to be humiliated like this.
Giovanni was about to lash out, but he suddenly heard Green's next words, and his actions faltered.
"Cloud your judgment...?"
His eyes flickered. He instinctively glanced at the humanoid Pokémon in the ruins, and as if realizing something, his body trembled violently.
When... when did I fall so low as to need a Pokémon to become invincible and rule the world?
Giovanni's Mentality was extraordinary, and his vision and ambition surpassed all others. He had simply been lost in the moment. When Mewtwo was defeated, and he stepped outside the game, he instantly recognized his mistake.
The only one who could truly be invincible and reign supreme over the world should be him, Giovanni.
Not some man-made Tool!
Giovanni's eyes instantly regained their former decisive and arrogant look. His gaze toward Mewtwo was no longer one of desperate, greedy possessiveness, but rather the appreciative look one gives a perfect Tool.
It had been several years since he'd felt this way...
Giovanni couldn't help but clench his fists. This magnanimity and courage were the true foundation of his power!
"This person is..."
He looked at Green. Although his previous words were taunting, a man of his meticulous Mentality could easily discern the goading and irony within them.
Could this person be... one of my own?
Didn't he say earlier that he was a Viridian Gym Trainer?
So young, yet his calculating Mentality was even superior to his own. The composure Giovanni had just regained vanished, and his gaze turned incredibly profound as he scrutinized Green.
This boy... is no longer just a prospect with great potential. He *is* the long, dark night!
...
Green watched the series of expressions change on Giovanni's face. Naturally, the emotional shift didn't escape his calculations.
That's right, he was helping Giovanni.
The Team Rocket of this world was different from the one in the Digital World. It was a gray-area corporation, not a purely villainous organization.
This world's Team Rocket was too deeply entangled with the Kanto Region; their roots were intertwined. Take Viridian City or Celadon City, for example. If Team Rocket were to suddenly disappear, the economies of these cities could completely collapse overnight.
Green's feelings toward Giovanni weren't benevolent, but they weren't malicious either. He viewed him with a neutral stance.
Besides, looking around at the somewhat familiar Viridian Gym, Green hesitated for a moment before deciding to give Giovanni a hand.
However, it probably didn't matter much. With Giovanni's Mentality, his prior Obsession would have unraveled on its own within a few days of Mewtwo's defeat anyway.
The two of them locked eyes from a distance, and then the corners of their mouths curled up in a smirk. Everything was understood without a word.
A temporary Bond between the two Gym Leaders of Viridian Gym was formed.
"Aaarrrggghhh!!"
Just as the two Viridian Gym Leaders were engaged in a passionate internal drama, sharing a moment of mutual appreciation, a sharp, human-like roar suddenly erupted from the rubble, causing both of them to whip their heads around.
The voice was filled with incomparable rage and killing intent, so potent it seemed to take physical form. The already cracked walls and ground around them shattered with countless new cracks.
"BOOM!"
A blast of crimson telekinetic energy shot toward the sky. Immediately after, Mewtwo's figure levitated out of the ruins, its entire body suffused with red light. Even its eyes were covered by the terrifying red glow, its facial features twisted and distorted.
"Oh? You can still fight?"
Although this endless, god-like Power was indeed formidable, Green still gave a disdainful smile and spoke again with extreme arrogance:
"No matter how strong your Power is, it's useless. Your eyes are full of confusion. Until you find your answer, you're no different from an ant to me."
Giovanni: "?"
That ant analogy was definitely unreasonable.
Mewtwo: "!!!"
Mewtwo was instantly enraged like never before, its eyes looking as if they were about to drip blood. The word 'ant' was one only it was allowed to say!!
"Aaarrrggghhh!!"
It let out its fourth human-like roar!!
The crimson light intensified to its absolute peak, and a scarlet, blood-red glow enveloped the entire Viridian Gym. Everything within several meters of Mewtwo's body was crushed into particles of nothingness by the terrifying telekinesis.
"Ahhh!!"
Mewtwo suddenly clutched its head with both hands, the veins on its face bulging and twisting, its expression contorted in agony.
But the more pain it felt, the stronger its psychic power became. At its limit, its Strength surged again, tripling in power. Terrifying currents of energy burst continuously from its body. At this moment, its Power had reached the absolute peak of peaks, and the entire Viridian Gym was on the verge of exploding.
"This level of Power isn't bad. No longer an ant. I'd say you're at the level of a Small Fry," Green said lightly.
Giovanni: "?"
Mewtwo: "!!!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!
I'll kill you!!
The energy erupting from Mewtwo was enough to destroy heaven and earth!!
Outside the Viridian Gym, Ash and his two companions finally put away their cards. They looked up at the rolling dark clouds and rumbling thunder, then at the Gym next to them. It was shaking with occasional explosions, and a red ball of energy had even shot out from it into the sky.
It felt like the inside was about to explode; they could sense the churning energy even from the outside.
"It sounds like they're having a real party in there... Damn it! That guy Gary is getting all the good stuff!"
Ash said indignantly.
In the Soul Space.
Red was still sitting in his Grand Master's Chair. He also had a Mewtwo with him, and he could perceive everything happening in the Viridian Gym seamlessly and in real-time.
He was enjoying the show.
He hadn't even been detected by the enraged Mewtwo he was spying on, proving that, in terms of Strength, his own Mewtwo was superior.
One was a newborn, just as Green had said, full of confusion, its Power naturally unable to break through that restriction.
But Red's was different. It was already in the accomplished stage of retirement, its Strength naturally far surpassing the other's. "Hmph, that spiky-haired brat dares to call me a Small Fry."
Hearing the complaint in his mind, Red chuckled and couldn't help but say:
"That Green... he holds a grudge just like always."
Green's taunt was indeed unreasonable, but Red and his Mewtwo knew why he was saying it.
It was simple: he was being a copycat.
It was all because back in the Digital World, Green had been Champion for three minutes, while he had become the eternal Champion. And after that, the Invincible Mewtwo appeared.
In Cerulean Cave, Green had gotten the news before Red and had encountered and battled Mewtwo one step ahead.
Mewtwo: "You are an ant."
Green: "Fuck..."
Mewtwo: "Oh, now you're a Small Fry."
Green: "You f..."
That was the entire battle between Mewtwo and Green back then. Afterwards, Green was beaten by it until his vision went black.
Of course, this Mewtwo was eventually caught by Red, who had exhausted all his strength to do so, and it joined his large retirement squad.
He couldn't beat the old one, so now he can't humiliate the young one?
He, Green, holds a grudge for life!
Even after transmigrating, he still holds a grudge!
The retired Mewtwo sensed the energy explosion from the Small Fry Mewtwo in the Gym and secretly shook its head.
"It seems this junior still can't control its own power."
Red nodded. Although it was exceptionally gifted and was born with such terrifying Power, completely mastering that power was not so simple.
Suddenly, as if he'd thought of something, he stopped rocking his Grand Master's Chair, lifted his head, and asked:
"Its energy has erupted to its extreme state, so its soul should be in a No Guard state right now, right? Can you pull its soul into this space?"
"Okay-dokey."
The retired Mewtwo seemed to understand his intent and was immediately interested. Its spiritual energy instantly left the Poké Ball on Ash's waist, coalescing outside into a transparent, ghostly figure. It then passed through the walls of the Viridian Gym and approached its target.
Seeing this, Red also curled his lips into a sinister smile and secretly sent a message to Ash.
"Ash, in a moment, someone wants to meet you."
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(4th chapter of the day. Please give me your votes and subscriptions. I'll see if I can do a fifth.)
(end of chapter)