"Yo~ isn't this Giovanni, the big boss himself? You got caught too, huh?"
Rainbow Archie's eyes lit up the moment he saw Dylan and Rainbow Giovanni.
Standing up from the battered body of Rainbow Colress, Archie cracked his neck with a grin that he probably thought looked friendly.
Rainbow Giovanni's face instantly darkened, waves of malice radiating from him.
Though nominally members of the same Rainbow Rocket Team, arrogant and self-centered people like Archie were never truly loyal to Giovanni.
They'd only cooperated for profit and convenience — nothing more.
Besides, Giovanni had been the only one who truly possessed the power to travel between parallel worlds, and in terms of strength, he was the strongest.
That was the only reason the others had followed him as their "leader."
But that was before. Now, every one of them had been captured, stripped of their Pokémon, and locked up in this place — most likely for the rest of their lives.
Naturally, none of them acknowledged Giovanni as boss anymore. Especially Archie — with his sheer bulk and muscle, he figured he should be the new boss now.
Giovanni knew it too, which was why there was no way in hell he'd share a cell with Archie. He could already imagine the horrors that would follow.
"Mr. Archie," Dylan said with an easy smile, "looks like you're settling in quite well here?"
"Heh, settle in my ass — not even a single form of entertainment here," Archie grumbled, crossing his arms. His Poké Balls had been confiscated, and Kyogre was sealed. He'd given up resisting long ago.
"Don't worry," Dylan said. "As long as you all behave, you'll get one day a week to go outside and enjoy the sunshine."
He paused, then added cheerfully, "We're very humane here. If you get too bored, I can even send a few sewing machines your way."
"You're so humane," Rainbow Lysandre muttered sarcastically.
"Oh, absolutely," Dylan replied brightly. "The Kalos League isn't nearly as civilized as Kanto's. I heard the Lysandre from this world is doing hard labor in the mines right now — dangerous work, you know."
Rainbow Lysandre twitched. The Lysandre of this world is mining?!
Archie burst out laughing. "You're kidding! That guy's skinny as a twig! Hah, mining — what a talent!"
Lysandre's face went pale with fury, but he didn't dare retaliate. He'd seen what happened to Colress when he'd mouthed off earlier.
In this cell, might made right — and Archie's fists were law.
"Don't laugh too much, Archie," Dylan added casually. "In this world, both you and Maxie are already in prison too — life sentences, actually."
Archie and Maxie fell silent immediately.
Here, the two had led the awakening of Kyogre and Groudon, causing catastrophic disasters — and Champion Wallace had personally thrown them in jail.
At least, according to reports, their attitude during confession had been 'good,' so they'd been spared the more dangerous mining assignments.
Archie slumped back down, and Maxie tried even harder to shrink into the corner.
"And Colress…" Dylan mused. "If I remember correctly, he's in a mental institution."
That information had come from Alder. The Unova League had completely dismantled Team Plasma — Iris had led Hilda and Rosa in the operation.
After N defected and sided with the League, Plasma hadn't stood a chance.
When they finally captured Colress, and he saw N again… he completely lost his mind.
They'd committed him to an asylum. N still visited him sometimes — the kid really was too kindhearted.
"Impossible! I'd never go insane!" Rainbow Colress shouted, face twitching.
How could even a parallel version of himself have fallen that low?!
"Shut your trap, you're too damn loud!" Archie snarled, startled by the sudden outburst, and kicked him hard in the side.
Colress whimpered and went silent, glaring but not daring to say another word. The musclehead would hit him again — and he'd mean it.
"I don't mind if you guys want to, ah, 'resolve conflicts' among yourselves," Dylan said mildly, "but Mr. Archie, please try not to overdo it. If someone gets too badly injured, it'll cause you trouble too."
Archie's grin widened. "Heh, I get it, I get it."
Royal permission, in his mind — the perfect license to rule.
"Now then, Mr. Giovanni…"
"Dylan, please," Rainbow Giovanni said quickly, his expression deadly serious. "I request a private cell!"
"Mr. Giovanni," Dylan replied with a teasing smile, "favoritism is frowned upon here."
Archie's eyes gleamed with excitement, staring straight at Giovanni like a predator sizing up new prey.
Giovanni felt a chill crawl down his spine. His instincts screamed that if he ended up in that cell, he'd suffer a fate worse than Colress.
No. Absolutely not.
"You don't want to know how my Mewtwo turned into what it is now?" Giovanni suddenly offered. "I'll tell you everything."
"Oh?" Dylan raised a brow. He was curious.
"Alright then," he said after a moment of thought. "I'll listen."
—Half an hour later—
Dylan stepped out of the cell, expression thoughtful, while Rainbow Giovanni secured himself a private room next door to Archie's group.
"Tch, figures," Archie muttered. "Still the boss, huh?"
Inside his cell, Giovanni exhaled softly, scanning his small quarters.
There was a toilet, a small desk, even a TV. For a prison cell, it wasn't bad.
To think — the man who once ruled a world was now confined like this.
Archie called out from the next cell, munching sunflower seeds. "Hey, Giovanni, how's the version of you in this world doing? Dylan mentioned everyone else, but not you."
Giovanni's expression turned complicated.
"He's… a winner in life."
"…Huh?"
Archie paused mid-chew, and even Colress lifted his head in disbelief.
That didn't make sense. Normally, their counterparts followed similar life paths. How could this Giovanni — the same man who once led Team Rocket — be some kind of success story?
"Come on, stop lying," Lysandre scoffed. "You think it's shameful to admit you're like us?"
"Believe whatever you want," Giovanni muttered.
In truth, he couldn't deny it — by normal standards, the local Giovanni was a success.
He had a son, a career, respect, and power. As head of the Kanto Elite Four, with Dylan as Champion, his position was perfectly reasonable.
And the cruelest part — even without Mewtwo, he had lost to that Giovanni.
Closing his eyes, Rainbow Giovanni felt an unfamiliar sense of exhaustion — something like resignation.
Fine. Might as well watch some TV.
He lay down and turned on the screen. The broadcast displayed:
"Kanto Elite Four Leader Giovanni challenges Master-Rank No.8 Iris!"
Rainbow Giovanni stared blankly. So this Giovanni's only in the top four? Can't even break into the top eight worldwide? Pathetic.
Still, he wanted to see how the match turned out.
Meanwhile, Dylan stood alone in a quiet corner of the Indigo Plateau.
He opened a Master Ball — and Dark Mewtwo appeared before him.
He wasn't worried about an ambush; the creature was intelligent, and its partnership with Rainbow Giovanni had always been one of convenience.
Besides, with so many legendaries on his side, even if Mewtwo attacked, it wouldn't get far.
"Giovanni told me you changed after fusing with some kind of artifact," Dylan said curiously.
Dark Mewtwo nodded. "Correct."
"Can I see it?"
After a brief hesitation, Mewtwo pressed its hand to its chest. A black glow flared — and a jet-black stone tablet emerged.
"The Dread Plate…" Dylan murmured, eyes narrowing. He'd already suspected as much.
After all, to alter Mewtwo so profoundly — transforming it into a Psychic/Dark type — only a divine relic could do that.
Most likely, one of Arceus's plates.
"The Dread Plate," Mewtwo repeated. "It's what I call it. It's… been changing me, slowly, ever since I absorbed it."
It reabsorbed the tablet back into its body, its psychic energy rippling faintly.
"I can't separate from it. We're one now."
Dylan chuckled softly. "Relax, I'm not going to take it. It's yours. But…"
He gave the creature a knowing look.
Dark Mewtwo understood immediately. Its eyes flared with purple fire — and the Master Ball in Dylan's hand shattered into dust.
"I'm your Pokémon now," it said, voice low and resonant.
(End of chapter.)