In the Black World — inside a resplendent castle,
Giovanni swirled the goblet in his hand expressionlessly.
The scarlet wine spun continuously within the glass.
There was no emotion in his deep black pupils—impossible to discern his thoughts.
Beside him, a black and gold Pokémon resembling Mewtwo stood quietly.
Beyond its color difference from ordinary Mewtwo, its form was also slightly distinct. Golden lines resembling shoulder armor adorned its body, and its physique had become noticeably more developed and powerful!
This was Giovanni's strongest enforcer and most powerful Pokémon—Dark Mewtwo!
Giovanni, who had been swirling his drink, suddenly downed the wine in one gulp!
Then, he casually cast the glass aside.
The sound of shattering glass rang out as the cup fragmented into pieces scattered on the floor. Some energy surged from the ground, swallowing the fragments, and the floor returned to its original smooth appearance.
"That useless Vicious! The next undercover agents will come from those other leaders' factions."
"If those guys win this gamble… it would truly be troublesome for me. After all, this is the most important parallel world—the Prime World."
"It seems… I'll have to throw some obstacles in their path…"
"But they can't use Mewtwo to connect to that world like I can. They'll have to rely on more primitive communication methods. I still hold the advantage."
"Haha… Let's have some fun with this world's Red!"
A bone-chilling smile spread across Giovanni's face, and soon the entire castle filled with his laughter.
…
[Bruno]: Hiss… what the hell? What undercover agents? What gamble? This Rainbow Rocket has too many schemes!
[Professor Oak]: I don't think this is scheming… but rather an opportunity for the Black World.
[Professor Oak]: I suspected as much—how could such a large organization, bringing together villains from six parallel worlds, possibly be of one mind… Now it seems there are indeed cracks within their organization.
[Flint]: What does this mean?
[Karen]: What Professor Oak means is… they're fighting among themselves? That's impossible, don't they still have a common goal they haven't achieved yet?
The common goal Karen mentioned was naturally the world where Black Ash currently lived.
The last parallel world among the ten remained unconquered.
How could Rainbow Rocket have internal conflicts already?
[Professor Oak]: After all, they already rule nine parallel worlds! Only one parallel world remains unoccupied.
[Professor Oak]: Even though this parallel world is the strongest, in Rainbow Rocket's eyes, that world is already theirs. So naturally, cracks begin to form in their unity.
[Professor Oak]: Where there are people, there is conflict. Giovanni became the boss of Rainbow Rocket because Dark Mewtwo defeated the others.
[Professor Oak]: Now, whoever gains the most benefit from this last and most fortified world will likely obtain power surpassing Giovanni's!
[Cynthia]: Exactly. This isn't just the final chance for a comeback for heroes like Ash—it's also the last opportunity for Cyrus and the others in Rainbow Rocket to overthrow Giovanni's rule!
[Cynthia]: Once this world is finally conquered, if Cyrus and the others haven't gained enough power to overthrow Giovanni, they might be controlled by him forever, or even… disposed of once they're no longer useful!
The villain organization leaders were all cunning, ambitious individuals.
How could they obediently follow Giovanni's orders?
Simultaneously, Giovanni naturally wouldn't fully trust deputy leaders who had each ruled their own parallel world.
One organization, one leader, five deputy leaders—eight hundred ulterior motives!
Only when they worked together could they possibly be of one mind!
And now the "gamble," "undercover agents," "opportunities" mentioned by Giovanni in the video all proved that Rainbow Rocket harbored internal strife!
[Professor Kukui]: Perhaps this is the real reason Giovanni felt that Rainbow Rocket's invasion of Ash's world might fail.
[Lance]: Yes, you must stabilize internally before confronting external enemies. But Rainbow Rocket clearly can't stabilize internally. Everyone already considers Ash's world theirs, so they divert their energy to their own ambitions.
[Lance]: I understand. Giovanni of Rainbow Rocket clearly discovered this, which is why he said a direct attack couldn't guarantee victory, right?
[Lance]: Therefore, they expended enormous resources and power to open a passage and place an undercover agent—someone like Vicious.
[Lance]: This method of invasion from within also became an internal competition to determine who ultimately gains more resources…
[Lance]: As Rainbow Rocket's leader, Giovanni naturally qualified to place the first undercover agent. Generally speaking, being first in such matters means reaping the greatest advantage!
[Lance]: However, the other organization members couldn't resist Giovanni's decision without the Prime World's resources. After all, Giovanni's Dark Mewtwo was a Creation-tier existence. But he never expected…
Never expected that in Black Ash's world, the variable Red would appear, and that variable would give rise to the even more terrifying variable—Black Ash!
In the end, Giovanni's plan failed, and Vicious was directly deemed useless by him, killed before he could even leave.
[Lance]: Hmph. Internal strife like this truly is an eternal opportunity-giver! If Rainbow Rocket were truly united, Ash's side would have absolutely no hope of a comeback.
[Ash]: Isn't that what I said? If only… if only Brother Red had a little more time, maybe he could have transcended to Creation-tier! Then fighting back against Rainbow Rocket wouldn't have been impossible!
Logic-wise, Ash always made valid points.
But where in the world were there so many "if onlys"?
If there truly were an "if only," it would belong to Red!
Ash couldn't accept others diminishing his own side's prestige by elevating the enemy's ambitions.
[Serena]: Yes! What Brother Red lacked was merely time. If he'd had enough time, he definitely could have done what Giovanni did!
[Lillie]: Right! You can't elevate others' ambitions while destroying your own prestige! Opportunities aren't just given by others—they're earned by yourself! If Black Ash didn't live up to expectations, giving him this chance would be pointless.
[Lance]: Alright, alright—it was just an analogy. Why are so many people criticizing me~ I believe in Ash, okay? Even if Rainbow Rocket rules nine parallel universes, I still believe… evil can never triumph over justice!
Lance couldn't bear the criticism anymore.
He'd just spoken casually! These people had become Red's fan club so quickly!
…
In the Black World — The screen had returned to Ash's side.
Witnessing the tragic deaths of Vicious and Dark Lugia,
Ash and his companions were momentarily speechless.
A Pokémon and a human had died alive before their eyes. This made them more acutely aware of Rainbow Rocket's cruelty.
They didn't even know who had possessed Vicious moments ago, and that entity had already killed Dark Lugia in a flash.
Even their own comrade, Vicious, had been killed. This made the Team Rocket trio tremble slightly.
Fortunately, the Team Rocket they belonged to wasn't as cruel as Rainbow Rocket.
Otherwise, based on their mission failure rate, they'd have died eight hundred times over by now…
"Ash… what should we do now?"
Sabrina's cool voice trembled.
Even with her personality, seeing death for the first time made her heart quiver. In the past, she'd had a frozen heart, cold to everyone in the world. Even then, she'd never tried to kill anyone, and she wouldn't now. She naturally had no desire to kill Vicious, but… if she didn't kill others, others would kill her!
Watching a living person die before her eyes—it was already remarkable that Sabrina could still speak.
Misty couldn't bear to look at the tragic scene and buried herself in Ash's arms.
Even Brock averted his gaze…
"…Let's build a grave for him. Even if he was evil, he was still human."
As Ash spoke, he blasted a large hole in the ground nearby and placed Vicious inside.
Soon, a small grave mound appeared in the now somewhat desolate forest.
Next, everyone looked at the Dark Lugia beside A-Jing.
At this moment, Dark Lugia was sallow and emaciated, like a withered tree. It had no vitality left.
Dying, it would soon perish.
Ash wanted to save it, but had no way to begin.
Boy… don't worry about me.
A gentle voice suddenly sounded in Ash's heart.
Ash was momentarily stunned, then immediately realized—this voice belonged to Dark Lugia!
"How can I save you?!"
Originally, Ash thought the other party hadn't regained its sanity.
Unexpectedly, as the corruptive power was withdrawn, Dark Lugia had also regained consciousness.
It's useless. I cannot live. Regaining consciousness now, being able to speak with you in this state, is already my greatest fortune. I retain all memories from when I lost control, so…
Ash fell silent.
He wanted to save Dark Lugia,
But now… even if there were a way to survive, Dark Lugia might not wish to live.
Retaining all memories of when it lost control meant it remembered every mistake it had made.
Put yourself in its position—
If Ash himself were controlled by another, forced to burn, kill, and loot endlessly—slaughtering countless lives, destroying countless environments, robbing countless Pokémon, devouring countless of his own kind—once he regained his sanity with all those memories intact, he probably wouldn't want to live either.
Death… was its best destination.
That kind of self-blame could truly extinguish any desire to live.
Today's Dark Lugia was exactly like that.
Don't be sad. I also remember your conversation just now… Ash, you're the one who will save the world!
Ash: …
Stop talking, or you'll break my defense… If I can't even save the Pokémon before me, how can I talk about saving the world?
So… I want to become your help in saving the world… My kin, accept the last power within my body.
These final words… are for A-Jing!
At this moment, A-Jing was still grieving Dark Lugia's imminent death.
Before she could react, Dark Lugia's body began slowly dissipating, ultimately transforming into countless black particles. Before A-Jing's stunned eyes, all the black particles poured into her body.
A-Jing felt her own strength rapidly increasing. Simultaneously, the life force she had lost due to the Corruption Serum was swiftly replenished!
Low Legendary-tier… Mid Legendary-tier… High Legendary-tier… Peak Legendary-tier!
In mere tens of seconds, A-Jing's momentum multiplied several times—even tenfold!
In one breath, she had reached the Legendary-tier level!
What was called "Legendary-tier" essentially meant peak Legendary-tier combined with priesthood power.
In terms of classification, it was still peak Legendary-tier, but in terms of strength, it could reach quasi-Ultra Beast level.
Neither A-Jing nor Ash had expected her strength and self-recovery to come so suddenly.
Before today, A-Jing had still been in an incomplete Legendary-tier state.
In just ten seconds, she had directly transformed into a peak Legendary-tier Pokémon—among the world's very strongest!
It could be said that even facing a Legendary-tier being, if she couldn't win, she could at least escape!
At this point, the Dark Lugia from another world had completely vanished from this world.
Ash silently bowed deeply in the direction where Dark Lugia had disappeared.
Red… Dark Lugia… Everyone had desperately helped him. There was only one way to repay everyone—defeat Rainbow Rocket!
Reshape all parallel worlds. Resurrect everyone!
Ash raised his head, tears streaming down his face, his eyes filled with determination.
He would become stronger… stronger than anyone else!
Pokémon Master. Save the world. He would do both! He had to do both!
"Celebi… are you still here?"
Ash looked toward the Lake of Life and spoke.
To everyone's surprise, a petite, exquisite figure rushed out from the lake. A large onion-like head, a pair of bright blue eyes, a body of intersecting dark green and light green, with a pair of small wings on its back.
Who else could it be but Celebi?
"Ash, Celebi isn't…"
Misty, still in Ash's arms, looked up and asked doubtfully.
Hadn't Celebi just taken Sammy back to the past?
"This is the Celebi of this era—but also the same Celebi we met back then… After forty years, it returned to this forest. It was worried about our situation. Am I right, Celebi?"
"Bii~"
Celebi smiled and nodded.
It had always remembered what happened forty years later. But it hadn't rushed to teleport from the past to forty years ahead.
Instead, it spent forty years accumulating time. Simultaneously, its own strength had slightly improved. Then it ran back to this place!
This was Celebi's cautious approach!
What appeared before Ash now was—Celebi with greatly increased strength!
Though its power had grown immensely, it could barely compete with Sub-Legendary-tier beings. However, with forty years of accumulated time power, escaping was as easy as a thought. That's why it returned after forty years—if Ash and the others were in danger, it would immediately use its time power to take them away!
It had to be said, this was truly a clever little one~
"I have something to tell you, Celebi. After you left, actually…"
Ash briefly recounted the story of Red, then asked Celebi about the meaning of Red's final words.
"…'Use the Ball to capture Celebi'—that's what Brother Red meant."
"But if he simply wanted me to capture you with an ordinary Poké Ball, he probably wouldn't specifically mention 'the Ball.' So I want to ask, Celebi, do you have any clues?"
"Bii? Bii?"
Celebi's two antennae curled into question marks. You're asking me?
I don't know!
Ash helplessly pressed his forehead. Counting on this little cutie—he really was grasping at straws!
In short… first, take out all the Poké Balls.
So Ash gathered all the Poké Balls from himself, Brock, Misty, and Team Rocket.
Among them, when Ash took out the golden GS Ball, Celebi's eyes lit up. It quickly flew to Ash's side.
Ash, Ash! I sense energy in this thing that can help me improve! What is this?!
A cute voice sounded in Ash's heart…
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