In the Black World —
Red began to explain the concept of so-called parallel counterparts.
Of course, Red used the term "parallel spacetime counterparts" to describe them.
After everyone understood the concept, they all looked at Ash.
Except for their different appearances, Ash and Red were so similar.
Though they wore different colors, their styles were very alike?
From behind, one might even think Red was an adult Ash. So the two of them… must be so-called parallel spacetime counterparts, right?
"Yes, just as you think. Ash is my parallel counterpart in this world. But… it's a little different, because your world is quite special."
"I'll explain that later. First, let me talk about Vicious."
As he spoke, Red looked at the unconscious Vicious.
"You must have noticed this Vicious isn't the Vicious of your world. He was replaced by the Rainbow Rocket using special means."
Hearing this, the Team Rocket trio had the biggest reaction.
"I knew he wasn't like the original Vicious!"
"So he was replaced! No wonder he kept spouting nonsense we didn't understand, saying we had this world's luck and killing us would be a huge blow to this world."
"That's bullsh*t, meow! If we were lucky, how come we always fail at doing bad things? And we get taught a lesson by the twerp every time, meow!"
Red: …
As soon as Team Rocket spoke, they noticed Red looking at them strangely.
"Wh-what? Did we say something wrong?"
Jessie bravely asked Red.
Team Rocket feared nothing, but they were a little afraid of ghosts.
Red's increasingly illusory form made them think he was one.
Red shook his head, speaking softly.
"You didn't say anything wrong. I just didn't expect Team Rocket to be part of this world's destiny… This world is truly wondrous."
In his world, basically all Team Rocket members were villains.
Except for Giovanni, who disbanded Team Rocket after a crisis of conscience, the rest had never done a good deed.
And this Team Rocket trio were clearly wearing the uniform—how could Red miss it?
He'd just seen they were on Ash's side, so he hadn't immediately attacked.
Unexpectedly, these three actually carried this world's destiny…
Team Rocket bearing the world's destiny… was indeed a bit subtle.
"What does that mean?"
"I'll explain later… Let me first tell you Vicious's origin… He's not from your world, yes, but he's also not from my world. He comes from another parallel world."
"As for why I know him…"
Red fell silent for a moment, then sighed.
"Our world… was destroyed by them."
A simple sentence, like thunder striking the earth, exploded in everyone's hearts!
Destroyed… literally destroyed?
Seriously?!
Red was that ultimate, terrifying talent—Champion in his first year!
Even in this world, he'd undoubtedly be the most gifted person.
And judging by Red's appearance, he should be an adult, or even older, right?
A first-year Champion—eight or ten years had passed. Ash didn't believe Red had stayed stagnant.
Even so… Red's world was still destroyed?
"After winning the Championship that year, I began challenging the unknown world."
Red's voice sounded slowly.
"At first, I found an artificial Pokémon in a cave. It was called Mewtwo. After a fierce battle, I finally caught it."
"At that time, I already possessed the Legendary Birds, but I was no match for it. If Charizard hadn't Mega Evolved at the last moment, I might have been one of those who lost to Mewtwo."
Red had actually caught Mewtoo!
And Red's Mewtwo clearly possessed immense combat power.
Red, with the Legendary Birds, was almost no match for it, relying on Mega Evolution to win… Wait, what was Mega?
Ash was stunned a moment, then thought of his Charizard's special evolution.
Could that special evolution be called "Mega" in the other world?
The parallel world seemed to have an accurate name and possibly a system for this evolution…
Ash suppressed his curiosity and kept listening.
"After catching Mewtwo, I realized my shortcomings and understood I wasn't qualified to challenge higher-tier Legendary Pokémon."
"So I trained hard in seclusion at Mt. Silver for two years. Two years later, I emerged and began challenging the major Legends."
"Lugia at the seafloor, Ho-Oh in the Bell Tower, Regigigas in the ruins, Groudon in the volcano, Rayquaza in the sky… I challenged these Legends one by one."
Everyone felt dizzy hearing this, as if listening to a mythical tale.
Two years of seclusion to challenge so many Legends?!
One might think he'd been in seclusion for twenty!
"Then… Mr. Red, did you win?"
Brock asked cautiously, though he already guessed the answer.
As Red nodded, everyone present drew a sharp breath.
Holy—!
"All… all of them?"
James, Team Rocket's know-it-all, asked in disbelief.
Jessie and Meowth might not know what those Mythical Pokémon were, but James was knowledgeable!
Those were the world's top existences!
If Red truly defeated them all… in any world, calling him the world's strongest wouldn't be an overstatement?
Facing James's question, Red nodded again.
For a moment, James and the others were stunned. Even Jessie and Meowth, who didn't fully understand, also stared blankly—if they didn't, they'd look uneducated.
After a moment, Ash couldn't help but ask.
"Since Brother Red defeated all those Mythical Pokémon, you must have caught them too, right?"
Red nodded.
"Then… then why…"
"Why did we still lose?"
Red finished the sentence Ash hesitated to say.
Yes, no matter how brilliant his earlier achievements, no matter how many Legends he'd defeated, their world was ultimately destroyed—an indisputable fact.
Ash finding it hard to believe was normal.
According to Red, he'd basically defeated all high-tier Legends and even caught them! How could he lose?
With a team of Legendaries, how could he lose?!
Just overwhelming the opponent with numbers should crush them!
They couldn't believe others had Legendary trainers like Red who'd caught so many Mythicals!
Red laughed self-deprecatingly.
"I thought the same back then…"
"Facing another world's invasion, my first thought wasn't 'this is bad' or 'troublesome,' but… 'are they here to die?'"
"At the time, I thought no Pokémon could defeat me except Arceus. I was even training to battle Arceus, since I'd defeated all other Mythical Pokémon."
"Arceus… the Creator God Arceus?"
Ash swallowed hard, asking incredulously.
Red's answer was another nod.
By now, Ash's mind was growing numb.
From his debut until now, he'd always operated with skills beyond the world's recognition, shocking others. Everyone watching his battles basically had the "old man, subway, phone.jpg" reaction. Now, it was Ash's turn to wear such an expression.
All Mythical Pokémon, except the Creator God, basically beaten…
The key point was that even after reaching this level, Red still lost… Was the opponent that strong?
"At that time, the other side began invading from the Alola region. That year… I was eighteen."
Eighteen years old, just coming of age, then facing a world-destroying crisis—the difference between others' eighteenth year and Red's.
"That organization is called Rainbow Rocket… its leader is Sakaki—yes, the Giovanni you're thinking of."
Without Ash saying anything, Red confirmed his guess.
"But this Giovanni isn't an ordinary Giovanni… The power he possesses… is too great, so great I couldn't resist at all."
Red's face remained neutral, but his tone held awe for the Rainbow Rocket leader's strength.
"After I caught most of the world's high-tier Legendary Pokémon, I didn't keep them with me. I let them continue living freely around the world."
"After encountering Rainbow Rocket and finding the Pokémon I had on hand insufficient, I summoned all the Legendary-tier beings and… began a battle with all Rainbow Rocket members."
"In that battle, all our world's combat strength was mobilized. In that battle, Alola vanished from the map. In that battle… we were defeated. Miserably…"
Red's palms clenched tightly, his cold face twisting.
It was an emotion called sorrow.
Recalling the original scene, even with his stiffened expressions, Red's face showed grief.
It must have been an extremely fierce battle.
…
[Lance]: What the hell…? After gathering the entire world's power and all Legendary-tier beings, they still couldn't beat that Rainbow Rocket? Is that Giovanni an Arceus in disguise?
[Lugia]: How is that possible? If all the world's high-tier Legends gathered, I truly can't imagine any force that could resist them, let alone cause their miserable defeat.
Lugia itself was a high-tier Legendary and knew their power well.
If all high-tier Legends united, even Arceus couldn't ignore such force.
A full-plate Arceus was indeed powerful, but if all Legendary Pokémon besieged it, they could wear it down. As long as they found a way to break one of Arceus's Plates, they might have a chance at victory!
This was the gathered might of the world's Mythical Pokémon!
Yet… Red said this force was miserably defeated by Rainbow Rocket!
How was that possible?
What was Rainbow Rocket? Adding "rainbow" made you invincible?
Then Ho-Oh would be the invincible of the invincibles!
[Professor Oak]: So it is the Alola region… Ever since learning Vicious was from another world, I've been researching.
[Professor Oak]: Generally, spacetime barriers between parallel worlds are extremely hard, impossible to cross. Otherwise, we wouldn't have seen parallel world individuals until now.
[Professor Oak]: But there's one exception: the Ultra Wormhole in the Alola region! That wormhole connects to other worlds.
[Professor Oak]: So theoretically, the spacetime barrier at an Ultra Wormhole is weakest. As long as other worlds have Ultra Wormholes, one can enter parallel worlds through them.
[Professor Kukui]: Yes, the Ultra Wormhole is an extremely unstable spacetime transmission channel. But I didn't expect they came through it. Doesn't that mean… we need to be cautious?
[Professor Oak]: Though there are no such signs in our world—the White World—being cautious never hurts… but would our caution even help? The feeling Rainbow Rocket gives is just two words…
[Cynthia]: Despair… right?
[Steven Stone]: All the world's Mythical Pokémon can't compete with them… I truly can't think of any word but despair.
[Diantha]: Don't forget Red's earlier inner thoughts. There's still a glimmer of hope for the world, and that glimmer… undoubtedly lies with Black Ash.
[Flint]: But… no matter how strong Black Ash is, he can't compare to Red, right? Red became Champion within a year. Black Ash… without Aura Fusion, doesn't even have a single Champion-level Pokémon now.
[Caitlin]: True. Compared to Red, Black Ash still has a long way to go. The only thing he surpasses Red in is his Aura power, letting him physically brawl with Sub-Legendary-tier beings!
[Misty]: But I think… Ash himself represents hope! Even Red believes in Black Ash, so why shouldn't we?
[Cynthia]: Right. Let's keep watching. Why is Black Ash called the "glimmer of hope" by Red?
…
In the Black World —
When Red said "miserably defeated," his heart filled with resentment and grief.
He'd watched his companions die one by one, watched the world slowly swallowed by darkness.
If not for his strong will and carrying the world's last hope, he might have collapsed long ago.
That kind of pain truly wasn't something ordinary people could bear. It was agony beyond agony.
"How is that possible! All the Legendary-tier beings in the world couldn't defeat them?! What about Arceus? If the world was being destroyed, Arceus had no reason not to act, right?!"
Ash's emotions were a little失控.
If Red's words were true, once that organization invaded their world… their world would likely be conquered without resistance!
After all, even Red with a team of Legendary-tier beings was defeated!
How could their scattered power… possibly resist Rainbow Rocket?
So Ash's composure broke slightly.
How could he win against such an opponent!
Where was Arceus? Arceus, please save them!
"Arceus couldn't act!"
Red's tone revealed helplessness.
"I haven't told you about Rainbow Rocket's members yet, right? Besides the leader Giovanni, their members are: Team Aqua's leader—Archie; Team Magma's leader—Maxie; Team Galactic's leader—Cyrus; Team Plasma's leader—Ghetsis; and Team Flare's leader—Lysandre."
"These people are leaders of villainous organizations from various regions worldwide, and now they've all become Rainbow Rocket members."
"Most importantly… these people are also from other parallel worlds!"
"In their worlds, they achieved their goals, successfully controlled the Legendary Pokémon, and ruled their worlds."
"And people from these parallel worlds have all gathered in Rainbow Rocket. In other words…"
Red stared at the group, who were involuntarily swallowing hard, and slowly revealed the cruel truth.
"What we were fighting wasn't one parallel world, but six."
Rainbow Rocket was a villainous organization composed of six parallel worlds!
Red and his world were fighting one against six!
The miserable defeat… seemed almost inevitable.
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