The experience at the Celadon Gym was like an endless, freezing rainstorm, continuously eroding Cross's nerves.
He didn't know how he had left that place; he only remembered the gazes cast by the people around him.
—Damn them all, they're all laughing at me!
Cross did not have a good temper; his attitude was usually aggressive, and he had offended many trainers.
So now, whoever he looked at, he felt they were gloating at his misfortune.
And the words of that guy named Ash echoed repeatedly in his mind like the most vicious curse—
*[Your path as a trainer has completely ended...]
"Shut up! Everyone shut up!"
Cross growled at the empty alley, his fist smashing ruthlessly against the mottled wall.
A stinging pain shot through his knuckles, but it was far less than the torment in his heart.
The humiliation of failure gnawed at him, mixed with fear of Erika's overwhelming strength and impotent rage at Ash's heart-piercing words. In the end, all of it transformed into deep-seated resentment toward that "trash" Charmander.
If it hadn't been so useless, if it hadn't... A dark, self-destructive emotion fermented in his heart.
He needed an outlet, he needed power, he needed to prove to everyone who looked down on him—that he, Cross, was by no means a mediocrity!
...Uh... this guy's mentality is terrible.
Just at the moment when Cross's spirit was most entranced and his will most weak, a strange sensation of being pulled appeared.
It was not a sound, nor an image, but more like a whisper originating from the shadows at the bottom of his heart, a vague directive.
He had been selected by Marshadow as a pawn for the trial.
Cross turned into a quieter side path as if possessed by a ghost. The shadows seemed to come alive, twining around his feet.
He did not perceive that he was being guided by a formless and intangible force, passing through the intricate maze of streets with a clear destination—the Celadon Game Corner, neon-lit and bustling with noise even in the daylight.
...Marshadow had begun to act.
Underground beneath the Game Corner.
Inside Team Rocket's secret monitoring room.
Tap, tap, tap...* Giovanni leaned back in his large chair, his fingertips rhythmically striking the armrest.
He was listening to a subordinate's routine report regarding the recent circulation volume of the Pokémon black market in Celadon City.
Suddenly.
The Beedrill that had been standing silently in the shadows behind him like a sculpture reacted.
An extremely subtle psychic fluctuation was transmitted into Giovanni's mind—something dirty has arrived.
"Hmm?" Giovanni's tapping motion paused.
His gaze glanced toward one of the surveillance screens, which was currently displaying the entrance of the Game Corner, showing the figure of Cross walking in, looking soul-lost and his eyes filled with gloom.
"Why would he come here?" Giovanni naturally recognized this eccentric trainer.
In Team Rocket's judgment, this person also possessed decent potential... very suitable to serve as cannon fodder for Team Rocket.
But what Beedrill was warning him about was not Cross himself.
Its perception was sharper; it locked onto the abnormal existence that had almost merged as one with the normal shadows... A short shadow lifeform with two wisp-like flames on its head was clinging to Cross's shadow, radiating an extremely obscure energy fluctuation of a very high hierarchy.
Generally speaking, it couldn't be seen, but that didn't mean he couldn't see it.
"...The Guide of Shadows... Marshadow."
Giovanni whispered that name, a trace of genuine excitement flitting across his eyes.
—I didn't expect that so soon after sending out the feather...
—Has the trial already begun?
Giovanni raised his hand to stop the subordinate's report.
He leaned his body slightly forward, gazing at Cross on the screen, who was wandering aimlessly in the sea of gaming machines yet was being guided toward a specific area by the invisible force in his shadow.
"An interesting guest has arrived." The corner of Giovanni's mouth hooked into a smile of interest.
If he hadn't made a different choice back then, perhaps he would have also experienced this trial?
"..." The reporting subordinate didn't see anything abnormal on the monitor and could only lament that the Boss was indeed the Boss.
"No need to intervene. Just watch."
"I would actually very much like to witness the legendary 'Rainbow Hero' test, and what exactly this guide who controls the shadows intends to do."
Giovanni's mood was surprisingly good right now.
It was like watching himself going to participate in the trial.
He always saw the shadow of his former self in Ash.
As for Team Rocket members suffering damage?
You've already joined Team Rocket; if you die, you die.
If you don't even have the resolve for death, why did you join Team Rocket?
Then you deserve to die even more!
Giovanni waved his hand, signaling the surveillance staff to lock the main feed onto the area with Cross and his shadow.
"..." Beedrill saw that Giovanni didn't care.
Then naturally, it didn't care either.
If Giovanni wanted to make a move, it could go and kill Marshadow immediately... Beating Ho-Oh to death might be difficult, but beating Marshadow to death was still achievable.
As for Team Rocket members being controlled by Marshadow, Beedrill was equally indifferent.
Choosing to join Team Rocket meant abandoning the League's protection.
Team Rocket members are not protected by the League's rules and regulations.
Inside the Game Corner.
Cross stood in a daze before a slot machine flashing with dazzling light effects.
The sound of coins dropping and the cheers of surrounding players made him even more irritable.
The money in his pocket was running low; the shadow of failure and the predicament of reality were like two hands choking his throat.
Lose.
Lose.
Lose.
No matter how he played the games, he lost.
This made his mood even worse.
Just then.
A strong impulse compelled Cross to raise his head.
His gaze involuntarily cast toward a relatively quiet rest area in the corner of the Game Corner.
There, a man and a woman, dressed fashionably and looking slightly out of place with their surroundings, were sitting on a sofa.
They seemed to be chatting casually, but their gazes swept over the crowd from time to time.
The man had striking green short hair and wore a garish shirt, his expression holding a hint of cynicism.
The woman had blonde hair draped over her shoulders and a beautiful appearance, but her eyes were quite sharp.
They were none other than the partner duo who were quite "famous" among Team Rocket members—Cassidy and Butch.
Cross didn't know them, but the bewitching power of Marshadow coming from his shadow amplified the desires in his heart—the desire for power, the desire for revenge, and the desire for money.
Like a marionette, he walked over with unsteady steps.
Cross's approach immediately attracted the attention of Cassidy and Butch.
That gloomy expression, the hostility in his eyes that hadn't yet dissipated, and the traces of slight wretchedness on his trainer outfit... made them exchange a meaningful look.
"Yo, young man, you don't look like you're in a beautiful mood?" Butch spoke first, his tone frivolous and carrying a kind of ingratiating intimacy. "Did you encounter some unfair treatment?"
Cross's body stiffened, and he looked at them sharply, his eyes wary and fierce. "How do you know?"
Cassidy elegantly crossed her legs, her red lips parting slightly, her voice carrying a trace of temptation. "The League is always extremely harsh on talent... especially trainers like you... full of 'potential,' yet temporarily buried."
Cassidy and Butch certainly didn't know what had happened at the Celadon Gym, but that didn't hinder them from habitually using rhetoric to swindle people.
After all, Cross's behavior was too obvious.
In the shadow, Marshadow's power flowed silently, cleverly amplifying the dark side of Cross's heart and lowering his guard, making him more susceptible to external suggestions.
Cross felt an inexplicable restlessness; the other party's words seemed to speak right into his heart.
"Buried... Hmph, it's those guys who have no eyes!" Cross gritted his teeth, his fist clenching again.
"That's right!" Butch slapped his thigh, leaned in closer, and lowered his voice. "True power has never been found within those rules and regulations of the League."
"Challenging Gyms and accumulating Badges by the rules?"
"That's just a game rule designed for mediocre people."
Butch felt that they were going to make a sale today.
Perhaps they could recruit a decent newcomer for Team Rocket.
Cassidy took over the conversation: "Do you want to obtain truly powerful strength? Strength enough to make everyone who looked down on you look at you with new eyes?"
Don't ask why.
After all, normally speaking, trainers who challenge Gyms all desire power.
And the fact that the guy in front of them had been brushed off by the good-tempered Erika despite having decent strength... proved that there was definitely something wrong with this guy's character.
Cassidy and Butch were Team Rocket elites; their abilities were very strong.
Unlike the comedy trio who had already withdrawn from the front lines, Cassidy and Butch were still working hard and maintained a very good condition; they were among Giovanni's attendants.
Today, the two were just resting between work; encountering Cross was an accident.
Uh... if the two of them weren't there, Marshadow would have found other Team Rocket members.
By the way... if Giovanni were to take action directly, one wonders what expression Marshadow would have?
Marshadow: I fight Giovanni?
Marshadow: .......
Ridiculous.
However, Marshadow didn't know Giovanni was here right now.
The scene shifted back.
Marshadow's shadow power caused the negative emotions in Cross's heart to grow madly like poisoned weeds being watered; the dam of his reason was collapsing.
"Who... exactly are you people?" Cross's voice carried a trace of hoarse longing.
He had already guessed it vaguely.
After all, there was no one else besides Team Rocket who dared to cause trouble in the Kanto region.
Butch and Cassidy smiled at each other, knowing the fish had taken the bait.
Cassidy took out a black card printed with a bright red "R" from her handbag and gently pushed it across the coffee table to Cross with her finger.
"Who we are isn't important." Cassidy's voice was full of temptation. "What's important is that we can give you everything you want. Money, resources, powerful Pokémon, and... the power to overturn the rules."
"Join us, and you will find that the world is far broader than you imagine. The path to power is by no means limited to the one offered by the League." Butch felt that poaching people from the League trainers... was truly incredibly exhilarating.
—Dragging a decent family into the depths, persuading a courtesan to become decent.
It was probably that kind of strange inner pleasure.
Cross's gaze was fixed dead on that black card.
The bright red "R" seemed to radiate a heart-palpitating magic.
The pain of failure, the anger of being abandoned, and the extreme craving for power, catalyzed by the shadow, finally broke through his last hesitation.
He abruptly reached out and grabbed the card in his hand, as if grabbing a life-saving straw, and also as if grasping a ticket to the abyss.
Cross had grasped the future.
It was just a dark future, that's all.
"I need power..." He raised his head, flames of paranoia burning in his eyes. "As long as it makes me stronger, I'll join!"
Considering Team Rocket's notoriety.
Cross similarly didn't mind borrowing Team Rocket's power.
Inside the monitoring room, Giovanni took all of this into his eyes.
He watched Cross accept that card representing an outer member of Team Rocket.
He saw the smiles of a successful scheme on Cassidy and Butch's faces.
He also clearly "saw" Marshadow, who was constantly lurking in Cross's shadow and seemed to ripple slightly with satisfaction at this moment.
"An interesting script." Giovanni grunted lightly.
"Exploiting the weaknesses of the human heart to guide them to fall into darkness—is this the 'test' method you have chosen, Marshadow?"
He leaned back against the chair, his gaze seeming to penetrate layers of barriers, looking toward the direction of the Celadon Gym. The figure of the young boy possessing the Rainbow Wing flashed through his mind.
"Truly annoying..."
Giovanni felt that if he were treated in this manner... he would definitely slaughter Marshadow.
He didn't like having fate forcibly manipulated.
However.
The Rainbow Wing had been on him for so long, and no one had come to reclaim it...
"Heh heh heh... They are all a bunch of bullies who fear the strong and bully the weak."
Giovanni muttered to himself.
"Let it be."
"Only in the vortex of chaos will a true hidden dragon emerge."
"This time."
"Before the event concludes."
"I am very willing to be a patient spectator."
Generally speaking, Giovanni didn't much like gods manipulating the fate of all living beings.
"But after that..."
"Ho-Oh!"
"You must give me an answer!"
Every debt has its debtor.
The one he had a grudge against was Ho-Oh.
So as long as Marshadow didn't block his way, Giovanni had no interest in killing it.
But that was all.
Giovanni was waiting for Ho-Oh.
In a certain sense, this was also the reason he had handed over the Rainbow Wing.
That thing could summon Ho-Oh to descend.
But Giovanni himself couldn't do it.
He did indeed appreciate Ash.
But that didn't mean he didn't have other objectives.
Giovanni had always been this way.
____
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