—[Six Months Later]—
"..."
"Teacher, it's done. After my treatment, Steyn's body has completely recovered. From now on, he won't have to worry about the congenital hereditary disease affecting him anymore."
After receiving Giovanni's promise that he would inherit the Viridian Gym, along with the Egg of his Champion-level ace Beedrill, Ash had been given an extremely generous reward.
Naturally, Ash had also done his absolute best to treat Giovanni's disciple—his own inexpensive junior brother.
Even though there were countless suspicious aspects surrounding Ashtwo's identity, and even though Ashtwo was a member of Team Rocket who would inevitably stand on the opposite side of Ash in the future, eventually becoming a rival or even a mortal enemy, Ash had accepted payment and therefore had to fulfill his end of the bargain.
As long as he and Giovanni—a Champion-level powerhouse—maintained their outwardly harmonious relationship, Ash was unwilling to become someone who broke his promises.
As for the possibility that his inexpensive junior brother Ashtwo would eventually stand against him, Ash had always remained vigilant, but he wasn't placing too much pressure on himself over it.
He had tremendous confidence in himself and in his Pokémon.
After all, as a transmigrator, he wasn't the same "wooden-headed" Ash from the original story.
He possessed experience, knowledge, and insights that the original Ash didn't have.
He had already awakened the Aura Power, as well as the Viridian Power that the original Ash had never possessed.
And most importantly, he possessed the Ascension Trainer System, something the original Ash had never had.
Furthermore, because he had obtained his first Pokémon at the age of six, he had already gained resources and advantages that the original Ash could only dream of during his early years.
It could be said that Ash was destined to reach a height that the original Ash could never attain.
He had already far surpassed the original Ash of the anime's corresponding period.
As for this new disciple Giovanni had taken in—his own junior brother—although Steyn possessed exceptional talent, Ash still firmly believed that he wasn't his opponent.
Not now.
And certainly not in the future.
"Treating his congenital hereditary disease right now is, at most, just adding a little trouble for the me of the future."
Ash thought this with absolute confidence.
"Mm-hmm, good~"
Hearing Ash's words, Giovanni nodded in satisfaction.
After half a year of treatment, the aftereffects left behind by the excessive growth hormones injected into Ashtwo's body had finally been eliminated.
According to Giovanni's previous assumption, Ashtwo should now be able to awaken the Viridian Power.
Giovanni was naturally very pleased about this.
After all, during the past six months, Ashtwo—Ash's cloned duplicate—had demonstrated extraordinary talent and learning ability.
Unlike Ash, who only came to the Viridian Gym for one hour of lessons each day, Giovanni had spent practically the entire day personally teaching and guiding Ashtwo.
Ashtwo's strength had improved at an astonishing rate—almost fast enough to be called miraculous.
And because Giovanni had personally witnessed every bit of his progress, his appreciation and expectations toward Ashtwo had grown increasingly high.
"Ash, Steyn has been under my tutelage for quite some time now. Furthermore, because it was convenient for him to receive your treatment, he has been staying here with me at the Viridian Gym."
"Now that his congenital hereditary disease has been cured, it's time for him to return home."
"From now on, he won't continue receiving my instruction alongside you."
"And for quite a long time, the two of you will probably have no opportunity to meet again."
"Today should be the day you two fellow disciples temporarily part ways. Why don't the two of you say goodbye before he leaves?"
With Ashtwo's body now completely healed, Giovanni directly explained the situation.
Ashtwo's identity was extremely sensitive.
Especially because he was a clone, his existence itself could be considered an offense against Ash—the original.
Furthermore, Giovanni held extraordinarily high expectations for Ashtwo.
In short, before Ashtwo had fully grown, Giovanni absolutely could not allow anything to happen to him.
Nor could his identity be exposed.
Most importantly, Ash—the original himself—could never be allowed to discover the truth.
If Ash learned that Team Rocket had extracted genetic material from his body and used it to create a cloned duplicate, the seemingly harmonious relationship between the two sides would probably shatter immediately.
That was something Giovanni absolutely did not want to see.
After all, Ash had not yet grown strong enough to exert external pressure on the enormous Team Rocket organization.
Likewise, Ashtwo had not yet grown strong enough to simultaneously withstand pressure from Ash and the Pokémon League while also leading Team Rocket—an organization that had already reached a bottleneck—toward an even more glorious future.
Therefore, Giovanni had decided to separate the two of them.
As the mastermind behind everything, he would simultaneously cultivate Ash—the future enemy of Team Rocket—while nurturing Ashtwo—the future leader of Team Rocket.
It was an extremely dangerous gamble.
"Junior Brother Steyn is leaving?!"
Hearing Giovanni's words, Ash was momentarily stunned.
His feelings toward this inexpensive junior brother were extremely complicated.
First of all, Ashtwo was his junior brother and Giovanni's true successor.
In the future, he would inevitably become one of Team Rocket's most important pillars.
And Ash, on the other hand, was determined to eliminate Team Rocket.
Therefore, no matter how harmonious their relationship appeared on the surface right now, they were destined to stand on opposite sides in the future.
Because of this, Ash was naturally filled with vigilance and wariness toward his inexpensive junior brother.
Yet, for some reason, whenever Ash faced Steyn, he could always sense an inexplicably familiar feeling coming from him.
It was as though Steyn were his long-lost twin brother.
Distance and closeness.
Suspicion and trust.
Opponent and junior brother.
Ash's feelings toward Steyn were extraordinarily complicated, and he had constantly found himself caught between two completely opposite emotions.
To prevent himself from being affected by those feelings, Ash had always adopted the same attitude:
Keep a respectful distance.
On the surface, he maintained a harmonious relationship with Steyn, neither openly hostile nor excessively close.
Every day, when Ash came to the Viridian Gym to receive Giovanni's instruction alongside Ashtwo, he would basically exchange only a brief greeting before leaving immediately after the lesson.
He deliberately avoided having too much contact with Steyn.
Fortunately, Giovanni also didn't want Ash and Steyn interacting too much.
He was worried that Steyn's identity might be exposed.
Therefore, Ash's seemingly busy yet actually cold and distant attitude was something Giovanni was more than happy to see.
As a result, despite spending more than half a year as "classmates" studying under the same teacher, Ash and Steyn had exchanged fewer than a hundred words.
And most of those words consisted of greetings when they arrived and farewells when they left.
On top of that, Ashtwo had spent the entire year wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a mask, keeping himself wrapped up from head to toe.
After spending six months together, Ash still didn't even know what his inexpensive junior brother actually looked like.
Strictly speaking, the two senior and junior disciples had almost no real interaction.
They were destined to become enemies in the future anyway.
Now that their transaction was complete and Ash had used his psychic abilities to resolve Ashtwo's physical condition, Ashtwo was about to leave.
After today, they would probably have almost no opportunity to meet again.
And when they did meet again, everything would undoubtedly have changed.
Under normal circumstances, Ash shouldn't have felt much of anything.
Yet the reality was completely different.
Ash's emotions were surprisingly complicated.