Kanto region, Team Rockets Headquarters.
Cold and somber.
The entire command room was constructed from cold alloys and dark glass; not a single stray noise could be heard, and even the air seemed filtered until it lost all scent.
The only color and light source came from the giant LCD screen on the wall that occupied the entire field of vision.
The images on the screen were unstable, mixed with harsh electromagnetic interference static; it was the final video segment sent back by the Mewtwo mecha before it completely shattered.
The moment the frame froze, it showed two elegant and vigorous pokémon bathed in the light of evolution—Mega Latias and Mega Latios.
Giovanni stood directly beneath the screen with his hands behind his back.
He did not sit in the Commander-in-Chief's chair that symbolized absolute power, but chose to stand instead, slightly tilting his head to gaze at the imagery that transcended existing biological knowledge.
His shadow was stretched long by the light of the screen, projected onto the polished, mirror-like floor.
In the command room, besides him, there were only four people.
Archer, Ariana, Lance, and Lambda.
The four Special-Grade Executives of Team Rockets stood on either side like four silent statues, their gazes similarly held captive by the scene on the screen.
After a long while, a flicker of flame ignited in Giovanni's bottomless eyes; it wasn't simple desire, but a kind of near-obsessive fanaticism.
He saw the key to the realm of the gods.
"Above the final evolution... there actually exists an even higher form."
Archer was the first to break the silence, his voice trembling with the excitement of discovering a new continent,
"This completely subverts all our understanding of pokémon evolution!"
Ariana stood with her arms crossed; she wasn't as excited as Archer, her gaze filled more with scrutiny and assessment:
"The key lies in whether this Mega Evolution is universal. Is it merely the privilege of Legendary pokémon, or... a realm that any pokémon might touch?"
Her question was exactly what Giovanni was thinking.
If it was only the patent of Legendary pokémon, its value would be greatly discounted. But if it wasn't...
Giovanni slowly turned around, his cold gaze sweeping over his four trusted subordinates.
"Immediately."
His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried an undeniable authority.
"Send the captured Latias to the highest-level laboratory. At any cost, using all resources, I need you... to find the secret of Mega Evolution!"
His gaze finally landed on Ariana:
"You will be in full charge of the experiment."
"Yes! Lord Giovanni!"
Ariana responded, her voice creating a series of echoes in the empty command room.
The order was given, but the atmosphere did not relax.
Lance took a step forward and cautiously brought up another unresolved issue.
"Lord Giovanni, regarding Mewtwo... how should we handle it subsequently?"
This question made the nerves of the other three Executives tighten as well.
That was, after all, an existence they had poured countless resources into, once revered as the strongest weapon.
Hearing this, a look of confident indifference appeared on Giovanni's face.
He walked back to his seat, slowly sat down, and interlaced his fingers in front of him on the desk.
"No need to worry."
He said nonchalantly,
"Although the mecha binding it has shattered, that was merely an external shackle. What truly controls it is the brainwashing we've subjected it to over the years."
He paused, as if admiring his subordinates' tense expressions.
"It is like a beast accustomed to being kept in captivity; even if the cage breaks, it will walk back on its own due to hunger and habit. When the time comes, we just need to forge a new, sturdier set of clothes for it."
These words were filled with absolute confidence, allowing Archer and the others to breathe a small sigh of relief.
Lord Giovanni's judgment had never been wrong.
Just then, a rapid communication request tone broke the silence in the room.
The communicator at Lambda's waist flashed with a red light; he quickly connected, listened for only a moment, then looked up with an 'as expected' expression and reported to Giovanni:
"Lord Giovanni, news has come from the Johto region. Mewtwo... has already returned to the headquarters over there."
"Very good."
The corners of Giovanni's mouth curled up slightly; everything was under control.
See, the beast has returned home on its own.
However, just as he finished speaking, Lambda's expression froze in the next second.
His eyes slowly widened and his mouth hung slightly open, as if he had heard some completely incomprehensible fairy tale.
He even subconsciously pulled the communicator away from his ear to look at it, as if confirming whether the device was broken.
"What is it?"
Giovanni sensed something was wrong and frowned slightly.
Lambda's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard, his voice dry like sandpaper rubbing together:
"Lord Giovanni... the Team Rockets headquarters in the Johto region..."
He paused, seemingly trying to organize his words, but in the end, he could only use the most direct and terrifying vocabulary to describe the fact he had heard.
"Dis... disappeared!"
"What?"
Ariana was the first to voice her shock.
"Along with... along with the entire ground where the base was located, everything is... gone without a trace!"
Lambda's voice became shrill due to shock; he almost screamed the sentence.
The command room fell into a deathly silence.
On the LCD screen, the light and shadow of Mega Latias were still flickering, but they could no longer attract anyone's attention.
...
At the same time.
Far away from land on the vast sea, the night was as black as ink.
Mewtwo floated quietly in mid-air, its purple body shimmering with a layer of cold light under the moonlight.
Below it was the bottomless, pitch-black surface of the sea, calm and undisturbed.
But beneath this calm, ten thousand meters deep on the seabed, was another scene entirely.
A massive steel base filled with modern technology was being ruthlessly swallowed and crushed by endless seawater.
Severed cables sparked their final electrical bursts in vain underwater; heavy alloy gates groaned under the terrifying water pressure before twisting and deforming.
Countless personnel in Team Rockets uniforms struggled desperately in the flooded compartments, eventually falling into silence.
That place had once been the Team Rockets headquarters in the Johto region.
Now, it was its grave.
Mewtwo's eyes showed not a single ripple; it just looked down coldly, its psychic power penetrating the deep sea, sensing the complete demise of that steel tomb.
"Team Rockets..."
A cold voice rang out in its own mind, and seemed to announce to the entire world.
"This time, it is my revenge, and also a warning."
"If you still dare to set your sights on me, next time, it won't be this simple."
...
Perspective shifts back to the Team Rockets headquarters in the Kanto region.
Dead silence.
The composure and confidence on Giovanni's face had completely vanished.
In its place was a brief, unmaskable shock.
He naturally knew who had done it.
To be able to instantly erase a massive base covering tens of thousands of square meters along with its foundations from the continent—there was no other possibility besides that "strongest weapon" he had created with his own hands.
Returned?
No, it didn't just return.
It came back, tore down its cage, and then slammed the wreckage of the cage hard into its master's face.
The four Special-Grade Executives didn't even dare to breathe; they finally personally experienced exactly what kind of terrifying power that existence they viewed as a tool possessed.
So-called brainwashing was nothing but a joke in the face of absolute power.
Mewtwo's revenge had come so quickly and so thoroughly.
Was controlling a Mythical Beast with human strength still too much of a stretch?
A muscle in Giovanni's face twitched, and that shock was quickly replaced by an even deeper gloom.
He slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there were no longer any thoughts of Mewtwo left inside.
What was lost would be treated as a sunk cost.
He knew that Mewtwo, his proudest work, was now completely out of control and had become an unmanageable enemy.
"Pass down my orders."
Giovanni's voice was colder than before, even more devoid of emotion.
"Temporarily shelve all topics regarding Mewtwo. All squads are to avoid any form of contact with it."
His gaze returned to the two evolving shadows on the screen, and that fanaticism burned again, even more intensely than before, more... desperate.
"From now on, the sole and highest priority mission of Team Rockets is—"
"To research Mega Evolution!"
"At all costs!"
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