After reaching Champion level, my strength stagnated…
That's why I pursued the Mewtwo Project—to obtain an even stronger Pokémon, to push farther on the path of a Trainer.
But was everything I did truly right… or irredeemably wrong?
Ash… you share the same ambition as me—to stand at the very peak of the Trainer world, to become the strongest Trainer this Pokémon world has ever known.
What kind of future awaits you?
Once, I was righteous, loathing evil, eager to save and protect those at the very bottom of society.
Yet in the end, I became someone who exploited, oppressed, and harmed those very same people.
You, on the other hand, are completely different from who I once was.
Self-centered. Cunning. Calculating. Ruthless.
For the sake of your family and your small home, you disdain justice and League law—so much so that you're even willing to cooperate with the vicious Team Rocket.
In the future… what kind of person will you become?
A villain even darker than me?
Or a savior who changes the world?
How fascinating… how very worth anticipating.
On the other end, after hanging up the call, Giovanni pondered silently.
…..
The autumn sky stretched vast and high, scattered clouds drifting lazily across it.
The early autumn scenery was so beautiful it made one want to lose themselves in it.
After finishing the call with Giovanni, Ash headed out and returned everything he had borrowed—the map, the LEGO rocket model, and the Mew plush—to Green's house, Gary's place, and Professor Oak's lab.
Now that he understood Team Rocket's true objective, Ash finally let out a quiet breath of relief.
Although he knew that beyond needing him to heal Mewtwo, Team Rocket was also deeply wary of his talent—and would surely try to eliminate him if given the chance—everything he had done over this period, all his careful maneuvering and layered preparations, had paid off.
Team Rocket no longer dared to touch him.
Nor could they.
The League's protection.
The backing of Kanto's great families and financial powers.
A Champion-level Charizard guarding him personally.
And, most critically—Ash held too many of Team Rocket's secrets.
At this point, Team Rocket not only couldn't make a move against him; they were forced to repair relations and actively seek goodwill.
Giovanni's warmth and friendliness during the video call had already made that perfectly clear.
"Phew… I may have taken on a lot more responsibilities," Ash thought as he returned home and flipped the drying corn kernels in the backyard,
"but at least I don't have to worry about my safety anymore."
As for helping Team Rocket treat Mewtwo—Ash didn't actually reject the idea.
The Mewtwo experiment involved extracting Mew's genetic material from fossilized eyelashes, then modifying
it—removing genes related to adaptability and variation, preserving only extreme aggression, and finally splicing in genetic traits from highly combative humans before cloning the result.
Mewtwo was, in a sense, created from nothing, rather than being the product of cruel experimentation on existing Pokémon.
That alone made it barely acceptable to Ash.
Secondly—Ash liked Mewtwo.
He believed that the Pokémon world needed Mewtwo, and that creating Mewtwo was one of the very few actions by Team Rocket that could be considered to have even a shred of positive value.
And Ash, who knew the original storyline, understood this clearly:
In the future, after Mewtwo was born and passed through a period of confusion and self-doubt, it would awaken its self-awareness, betray Team Rocket, and retaliate against them.
In the original anime, if not for the writers preserving the story structure, Team Rocket would likely have been completely annihilated by Mewtwo's revenge.
But this was the real Pokémon world.
When Mewtwo eventually rebelled and struck back, whether Team Rocket could survive at all… was an open question.
In Ash's estimation, the odds of Team Rocket continuing to exist after facing Mewtwo's wrath were extremely slim.
For now, Ash maintained a surface-level cooperation with Team Rocket—playing along, staying ambiguous—to protect himself and those he cared about.
But his true goal had never changed.
To destroy Team Rocket.
However, with Giovanni's strength and Team Rocket's decades-long entrenchment across Kanto and Johto, with roots spreading deep and wide…
No one knew how long it would take before Ash himself grew strong enough to uproot them.
If Mewtwo could be used to wipe out Team Rocket…
That would be perfect.
And—
"I want Mewtwo too."
The thought of Mewtwo's overwhelming power made Ash's heart burn with desire.
…
With the Team Rocket crisis temporarily resolved, Ash returned upstairs after finishing the chores.
After checking in with Rotom about the online shop, he gathered his Pokémon and began their afternoon study session.
Whether it was running the shop to earn money, or neutralizing the danger posed by Team Rocket—everything Ash did served a single purpose:
To create a safe, comfortable environment.
Only then could he train, study, and grow stronger without distraction—together with his Pokémon.
And now… that environment finally existed.
Which meant—
It was time to seize this opportunity and push forward at full speed.
Pichu and Frogadier were both favored by fate itself.
One possessed Gold-tier Royal potential, the other Purple-tier Peerless potential—talents already rivaling those of Legendary Pokémon.
As for Pidgeotto, with Blue-tier Perfect potential, while not as monstrous as the other two, it still stood at the absolute pinnacle among ordinary Pokémon.
With such talent—and Ash as their Trainer—the future of these three Pokémon was boundless.
Pichu: LV.26
Frogadier: LV.31
Pidgeotto: LV.32
Under the constant pressure from Team Rocket, Ash had maintained extremely intense training schedules, and his Pokémon's growth rate had been astonishing.
But to prevent unstable foundations and hollow strength, Ash decided to slightly reduce wild grinding going forward—shifting focus instead to refining techniques, enhancing fundamentals, and strengthening overall combat ability.
In truth, grinding wasn't even that effective anymore.
Without Drowzee—their "super EXP pack"—fighting low-level wild Pokémon in the tall grass simply couldn't produce the explosive growth of before.
"Pichu—?! (O_O)!!"
Just as Ash sat at his desk by the window, revising training plans for his three Pokémon—
Pichu, who had been sprawled on the bed watching recordings of the previous Indigo League on Rotom Phone, suddenly let out a startled cry.
"What's wrong, Pichu?"
Ash turned his head—
And his eyes widened.
The small, adorable Pichu had begun to glow.
Its tiny body shone with a soft, brilliant white light—
Like a lamp being switched on.
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