In the League's guest area, Giovanni politely thanked the staff member who had brought the food, then casually changed the topic.
"Hey, young man, could you tell me about the day Axel saved Sinnoh?"
"I heard that after he defeated Dialga and Palkia, there was a mysterious voice that appeared inside a spatial rift."
"Was that person really the Pryce from the Johto region?"
"You mean that?", Hearing Giovanni mention the topic, the young staff member set the food down, replying while taking out his work phone.
"Yeah, lots of people have been curious about that lately, but nobody has a definite answer."
"But since you came all the way here to support Sinnoh at a time like this, you're absolutely one of our closest allies. I'll check right now and get you an answer."
Giovanni's eyes lit up, and he handed the staff member a stool.
"Then I'll trouble you for that."
The young man waved his hand dismissively and did his best to help Giovanni investigate.
Ever since Giovanni had arrived yesterday, he'd been unfailingly polite. Just the night before, he'd even stayed up late giving detailed training advice for the man's Sandshrew.
So now that he could return the favor, the staffer was more than happy to help.
After a short while, the worker gathered his colleagues' information and looked up at Giovanni.
"What we can confirm is that, during the moment when Lord Axel defeated the Twin Dragons of Time and Space, someone with a grudge against Team Galactic's leader Cyrus appeared in the spatial rift."
"According to our clues, during the brief period Cyrus controlled the two gods of time and space, he once attacked Pryce across space and time, exposing Pryce's identity."
"The probability that the voice belonged to Pryce is about ninety percent."
"Ninety percent?", Giovanni's lips curled into a smile, and he nodded slightly.
Axel truly lived up to being the most promising of the younger generation, he hadn't disappointed him.
'If that's the case… then it's time to settle the score.'
After getting the answer he wanted, Giovanni offered the worker a few more training pointers before sending him politely out the door.
Suddenly, a bone-chilling cold spread through the sky. The once-clear heavens darkened as thick black clouds gathered.
Hail and snow mixed together, pelting the ground with sharp crackling sounds.
"What the hell kind of weather is this… don't tell me it's Giratina again?", the staffer grumbled, pulling his clothes tighter as he hurried toward the employee dorms.
Just then, a whistling sound came from afar.
Several sharp icicles shot out from the blizzard, lancing straight toward the unsuspecting worker!
"Hel—", The worker tried to shout for help, but the ice spikes were too fast.
By the time he'd gotten one syllable out, the nearest icicle was already at his throat.
It was a move released by Cyrus's Weavile, meant to kill the witness, to keep the League from finding out.
As the worker shut his eyes in despair, ready to accept his fate, another rushing sound suddenly came from behind him.
At some unknown moment, a Poké Ball had flown through the snow and appeared by his side.
A flash of white light, and a Pokémon exuding razor-sharp presence materialized before him.
It was a Beedrill.
Bang! Bang!
In a flurry of strikes, Beedrill shattered the incoming icicles into frozen dust that fell harmlessly to the ground.
Its movements were impossibly fast, its body seemingly never having moved at all.
To the worker's eyes, even the sounds of the ice breaking merged into one continuous note.
Through the storm, Giovanni slowly emerged, patting the worker's shoulder to signal him to leave, his gaze turning mockingly toward the thickest part of the blizzard.
"You came, so why bother with ordinary people?"
"Pryce, you've really let me down!"
"Giovanni?", Seeing Giovanni appear, both Pryce and Cyrus frowned deeply.
As the leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni was someone known by every villain in the world.
Especially after he'd successfully dismantled the Caggy Gym, Giovanni's standing among villain groups had skyrocketed.
"So what if it's me?", Giovanni's tone dripped with contempt, his chin tilted up slightly, "Two beaten dogs, reduced to attacking a League clerk?"
"If I were you, I'd gather my men and storm the League head-on."
"But this works too. Since I've run into you…"
Giovanni's tone began to heat with excitement, "Pryce, now I finally have a legitimate reason to catch you!"
Pryce: "..."
'Damn!'
'Easy for you to talk big when you're not the one suffering!'
'If you've got the guts, try dragging Leon over to Kanto for a few months and see how you like it!'
That guy never knew how to get home and couldn't even explain where he'd been wandering off to.
Pryce had already lost half his subordinates because of him.
If his identity hadn't been exposed sooner by Leon, he might've ended up helping Leon catch Entei and hand it over.
Still, Pryce felt some disdain toward Cyrus's Weavile attacking a civilian.
He instinctively stepped half a pace away from Cyrus, but his words toward Giovanni remained sharp.
"You tore down my Gym and still dare show your face here?"
"Today I'll show you who the strongest Gym Leader really is!"
Pryce swung his arm, and icy energy surged from his Piloswine's body, morphing its shape into that of the Ice Dragon, Kyurem.
The next moment…
Like planets colliding, the two men clashed in an instant.
Off to the side, Cyrus was completely stunned.
He had thought himself a master, someone who could at least hold his own against a League Champion.
But standing before Pryce and Giovanni, he felt like a total rookie.
With strength like this, why weren't they just League Champions themselves? With the League's resources, any dream could be realized, why bother being villains at all?
He watched clearly as Pryce's Piloswine, cloaked in Kyurem's icy shell, radiated overwhelming dragon might. Each roar shook the very soul.
Every motion unleashed massive, furious Ice-type attacks that swept across the sky like an avalanche.
It was even stronger than the Yveltal he had once faced.
Cyrus had no doubt, if Pryce's attacks weren't aimed at Giovanni but at the city instead, it could be frozen solid in seconds.
Even more absurd, Giovanni's Beedrill was no weaker.
Its movements were beyond words, darting freely through the snowstorm, twin needles slashing with surgical precision. Every strike against Piloswine chipped away chunks of ice, draining its stamina.
And Giovanni's trainer skill… was on another level entirely.
Several times, Beedrill was nearly struck by ice and snow, yet Giovanni recalled it a split second early every time.
Each re-release of the Poke Ball was flawless, appearing at impossible angles, placing Beedrill in perfectly timed positions.
To call such a man a "beaten dog"… Cyrus honestly couldn't refute it at all.
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