Chapter 391: The Grand Gift
Beedrill reached out and took the stone.
Kenji tucked the modified Mega Key Stone into his pocket and took a deep,
steadying breath. "I've accepted it, but that doesn't mean I'll ever use it."
Matsuma nodded calmly. "Of course. The power to choose belongs to you alone."
"And I won't deny that humans and Pokémon still have a long way to go," Kenji
continued, his voice firm. "I know there are shadows in every League. But one
day, those shadows will melt away under the light of the sun."
Matsuma locked eyes with Kenji. After a long silence, the leader of Team Rocket
let out a faint, dry laugh. "I truly hope you're right. I hope your vision
becomes reality before I draw my last breath."
Kenji didn't respond. From this moment on, a new purpose had taken root in his
heart. Beyond his dream of becoming a Pokémon Master and standing in the Hall of
Fame, he felt a new weight on his shoulders.
He wanted to use his strength to create a world that mirrored the one he
remembered from his childhood—a world where the bond between human and Pokémon
was pure. A utopia.
The path would be nearly impossible, a climb up a vertical cliff of reality. But
he was going to try.
The shadows would never truly vanish, but they would certainly shrink when the
sun was at its zenith.
"Enough of the philosophy," Matsuma said, breaking the mood. "I have another
gift for you."
Matsuma gestured toward the dark passage he had emerged from. He turned and
began to walk. Kenji followed him into the gloom.
The tunnel was pitch-black, the visibility so poor that Kenji could only track
Matsuma's silhouette by the sound of his footsteps.
Kenji wasn't worried about an ambush. Matsuma's actions so far suggested he was
being genuine. Besides, Kenji had Beedrill, Darkrai, and Ninetales flanking him.
The darkness that hindered human eyes meant nothing to three Master-rank
legends.
After a few minutes of walking, the dim tunnel finally opened into a brightly
lit space.
It was a laboratory. But unlike the bustling hubs of Team Rocket's prime, this
room felt hollow and abandoned. Most of the high-tech equipment had been
stripped away, leaving only a few massive, immovable machines and empty
workbenches.
Matsuma walked over to a reinforced floor safe. He pressed his thumb to a
scanner.
Beep.
The heavy metal door hissed open. Inside sat a single, pristine Poké Ball.
Matsuma retrieved it and pressed the release button.
POP!!!! —
A streak of red light hit the floor and solidified.
"Ying-ying-ying...!"
A small, pink, gelatin-like creature appeared. It looked like a living pile of
putty, soft and rounded.
The little guy blinked its tiny black-bead eyes, looking around with curiosity.
When it saw Matsuma, its face lit up with joy, and it performed a bouncy leap
straight into the man's arms.
Matsuma caught it, a rare, genuine smile softening his features as he poked its
head. "Say hello to your new master, Ditto."
"Ying?"
Ditto tilted its head, looking at Kenji.
Kenji focused his gaze, and the stats panel appeared in his vision.
[Ditto] Gender: None Level: 47 (Master) Type: Normal Ability: Imposter (The
Pokémon transforms itself into the opponent's appearance and gains its moves
upon entering battle.) Potential: F-
Kenji's expression turned skeptical.
An F-Rank Ditto? At Level 47?
Furthermore, its color was off. A standard Ditto was usually a light purple or
violet. This one was a vibrant, candy-pink.
"What is this?" Kenji asked. "Is this another one of your clones?"
Matsuma shook his head. "No. To be precise, this little one is a product of
direct gene editing."
"As the world knows, Mew is the ancestor of all Pokémon. It possesses the innate
ability to transform into any living creature on the planet. And Ditto is the
only other species that shares that unique trait."
"So, I attempted to edit Mew's specific transformational markers into a Ditto's
genome."
"The process was... messy. The first hundred test subjects not only failed to
gain new powers but actually lost the ability to transform entirely. They became
useless piles of organic sludge."
Matsuma patted the Ditto's head, and the creature let out a satisfied
duang-duang sound.
"But eventually, we succeeded with this one."
"Compared to the legendary Mew, an ordinary Ditto has two fatal flaws. First,
their transformations are rarely 100% perfect—there are always 'tells,' like the
face or the size. Second, their range is limited. If they don't have a target
standing right in front of them to copy, their ability is useless. And even
then, their power level is dictated by their potential."
Matsuma looked at Kenji. "This one is different."
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