No matter how strained the relationship between Giovanni and Mewtwo might be, one fact remained unchanged:
By League standards, Mewtwo was still Giovanni's Pokémon.
Under normal rules, neither Ash nor anyone else would have the right to stop Giovanni from recalling her.
But now?
The moment Giovanni chose his stance, the rules ceased to matter.
Ash no longer needed to follow convention, nor would he. He intended to stop Giovanni from taking Mewtwo away.
"What are you trying to do, brat?!" Giovanni snapped as Ash and Lucario blocked his path. "That's my Pokémon!"
"Your Pokémon?" Ash replied lightly, a trace of mockery in his voice as he raised an eyebrow. "Then take out a Poké Ball and recall her."
Giovanni's expression darkened instantly.
A Poké Ball?
If he had one capable of holding Mewtwo, he would have used it long ago.
An ordinary Poké Ball was useless. Even an Ultra Ball wouldn't suffice. Giovanni had once planned to obtain a Master Ball specifically for Mewtwo, but after the restraint machinery was developed, the plan was shelved indefinitely.
Those devices couldn't function inside a Poké Ball. Once sealed, their suppression effect would slowly degrade until it failed entirely.
Under those conditions, recalling Mewtwo was impossible.
Which meant, Mewtwo currently had no Poké Ball at all.
"Don't push your luck," Giovanni growled. "You've already won. Now you're trying to steal someone else's Pokémon? Are you planning to become another kind of Team Rocket?"
He tried to bind Ash with moral pressure.
It might have worked on the old Ash.
But the Ash standing here now, honed by years of experience, was unmoved.
"Save that speech for your subordinates," Ash said coldly. "Handing Mewtwo back to you would be the cruelest thing you could do to her."
His gaze sharpened.
"You have one minute to leave. If you don't… you'll stay here as well."
The words struck Giovanni like a slap.
Humiliation burned in his chest.
He, Giovanni, Team Rocket's leader, a Champion-level Trainer, had never been cornered like this in his life.
Yet the reality was merciless.
Without Mewtwo, and with a god-tier Lucario standing in front of him, even his prepared High-level Psychic Pokémon offered no guarantee of escape.
Ash wasn't bluffing.
If Lucario moved, Giovanni truly wouldn't get away.
Giovanni glared hatefully at the unconscious Mewtwo behind Ash, teeth clenched so tightly they creaked. At last, he hurled a Poké Ball to the ground.
A Hypno emerged beside him.
"Ash," Giovanni spat, "today's humiliation will be repaid a hundredfold in the future."
Ash met his glare without flinching.
"Come whenever you like. My doors are always open."Then his tone hardened.
"But before you do, ask yourself, will you still have Pokémon like Mewtwo? Or something even stronger?"
"Otherwise, you won't be challenging me. You'll just be delivering yourself to prison, for life."
Giovanni said nothing more.
In the next instant, he and Hypno vanished.
The oppressive pressure that had filled Viridian Gym dissipated immediately, as if it had never existed.
Gary and the others finally exhaled, realizing only now how tightly they'd been holding their breath.
Even though Ash had won, the weight Giovanni carried as a Champion and crime lord had been suffocating. Just standing nearby had felt like being crushed.
Only Ash had been able to ignore it entirely.
With Giovanni gone, Lucario relaxed his stance. The overwhelming power surrounding him slowly receded.
There were two ways for a Proxy's power to end: when the time limit expired, or when the user dismissed it voluntarily.
Ash chose the latter.
Moments later, Lucario's aura returned to normal. But the results of the battle remained.
Lucario's level surged from Mid-level sraight into High-level, leaping one major tiers in a single battle.
Now, Lucario had finally reached the same tier as Charizard, Gardevoir.
'Alright. My mission here is complete. I'll leave the rest to you, rookie.'
Ash hesitated.
'Wait, Aura Hero… why didn't you keep Giovanni here? Miss Lorelei and the others should already be on their way. If you'd held him back for another minute or two, once they arrived, Giovanni wouldn't have been able to escape, right?'
With Lucario's remaining strength, restraining Giovanni would have been easy. Even without Lucario, Ash himself could have done it.
Psychic-type power might be mysterious, but against overwhelming strength, even Psychic techniques could be crushed head-on. As for moves like Teleport, Ash was confident that if he chose to intervene, any Pokémon below Champion level could be forcibly intercepted.
That was why he couldn't understand why Aura Hero Ash had deliberately let Giovanni retreat.
'This is your world,' Aura Hero Ash replied calmly, 'and Giovanni is your enemy. The purpose of Proxy is to help you overcome enemies you cannot yet handle, not to eliminate every obstacle for you.'
'Forget Koga. Giovanni is different. He's your true adversary. Leaving him alive means danger, but also opportunity. He will become your greatest whetstone.'
'How can you see a rainbow without weathering the storm? Letting him go is the best outcome.'
Ash fell silent.
He understood.
Aura Hero certainly could have dealt with Giovanni, but growth never came from safety. The reason Ash himself had progressed so quickly on his journey was precisely because he constantly pushed himself against stronger and stronger opponents.
Giovanni had lost Mewtwo and half of Team Rocket, but he was still a Champion-level Trainer.
Being hunted by someone like that would force Ash to grow fast.
'I understand. Thank you, senior.'
Good. One last thing, treat Mewtwo carefully. Your Viridian power won't have much effect on her. Although she appears to be Champion-peak, she's already extremely close to that realm. A-rank Viridian energy will struggle to influence her. It's best to send her to the League for proper treatment.'
'Understood.'
With those final words, Aura Ash's presence faded. His soul withdrew cleanly, and Ash once again regained full control of his body.
He glanced around the shattered Gym and couldn't help clicking his tongue.
This had been a God-tier battle.
Without the contract's protective barrier, Viridian City itself might have been wiped off the map. Even so, a massive crater had been carved into the ground. From above, Misty and the others were shouting for him to come up.
The pit had to be at least thirty meters deep. Without ropes or equipment, they couldn't even descend.
Ash walked over to Mewtwo, lifted her onto his shoulder, and slowly channeled Viridian power into her body.
Through that energy, he immediately sensed how severe her condition was. Even though Lucario had held back, a god-level strike wasn't something anyone could shrug off. The shockwaves alone had created this crater, taking the blow directly had left her gravely injured.
Ash couldn't fully heal her.
But he could at least ease her suffering.
And as the Viridian power flowed into Mewtwo's body, Ash noticed something strange.
Instead of moving straight toward her injuries…
The energy sank deeper into her body.
However, despite the Viridian power continuing to flow into her body, Mewtwo's internal injuries showed no sign of improvement, almost as if the energy that entered her vanished without a trace.
Ash frowned. He didn't understand what was happening. After all, Viridian power was meant for healing, and he wasn't a real doctor. With no better option, he continued channeling the energy while hopping and climbing his way up out of the crater.
"Ash! Are you alright?"
The moment he emerged, Misty rushed over, poking and prodding him anxiously.
"What could possibly be wrong with me?" Ash laughed wryly, gently pushing her hands away. "I didn't even fight. Look at how miserable she is."
He carefully set Mewtwo down and rested a hand on her arm, continuing to inject Viridian power.
"It seems things are settled," a cool, composed voice said. The crisp sound of heels echoed through the ruined Gym.
Everyone turned.
Agatha leaned on her cane as she approached, Lorelei walking beside her in high heels. Both wore faint, satisfied smiles.
"Ms. Lorelei, you're here already?" Brock said reflexively. But the moment his eyes landed on the elderly woman radiating a chilling presence beside her, his nerves instantly settled.
"Agatha… Kanto's Ghost-type Elite?" Brock swallowed. "Why is even she here?"
Ash paused, then suddenly remembered.
'Right, Agatha. One of Kanto's Elite Four.'
Lorelei arriving made sense; she'd placed a camera on him earlier. But Agatha's presence meant something else entirely.
"Giovanni was originally under this old woman's watch," Agatha said calmly. "Where is he?"
Since they'd rushed over immediately after the battle ended, neither of them knew what had transpired afterward.
"He got away," Ash admitted, scratching his head with an awkward smile. "I let him go. He still needs to personally oversee the dismantling of Team Rocket, doesn't he?"
Agatha waved it off dismissively.
"If he ran, he ran. As you said, he still has work to do disbanding his own organization. There's no rush to throw him into a League prison. Once Team Rocket weakens enough, we'll crush what's left and bring him back."
She spoke as if she were discussing garbage disposal, not a Champion-level criminal.
Ash could only nod in agreement.
Agatha's gaze then shifted to the unconscious Pokémon on the ground.
"So this is the artificial Pokémon Blaine mentioned."
She had already seen Mewtwo's true form through the footage, but seeing her in person made the resemblance unmistakable.
The more Agatha studied her, the clearer it became.
Mewtwo truly looked like Mew.
"Her injuries seem severe," Lorelei observed. "Why hasn't she woken up yet?"
"They're serious," Ash replied, withdrawing his hand. "I can't heal her quickly with my current ability. She'll need proper treatment. Miss Lorelei, I think it's best to send her back to the League."
Lorelei considered it briefly, then nodded.
"Alright. We'll take her back immediately. Don't worry, I guarantee she'll be fine."
...
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