"Miss Alexa, do you understand Team Rocket?"
Damian paused, then asked.
"I looked up some data. Team Rocket is a very evil, dark organization."
Alexa nodded.
"So,… you really know about it?"
Cameraman brother swallowed hard.
He quietly adjusted the camera angle, feeling like he was sweating buckets.
But at this point, there was no way he could run.
He could only keep going with the interview.
Otherwise, if he somehow angered this kid, he wouldn't even dare imagine his ending.
"Yes. Team Rocket is an evil organization."
"In Kanto, it's basically a household-name evil organization everyone knows—kidnapping, extortion, robbery."
"Even Pokémon gene experiments that are inhuman."
"Nothing but evil."
Damian said slowly.
"Then why did you join Team Rocket?" Alexa asked again.
"As far as I know, you're Mr. Giovanni's eldest son."
"And Mr. Giovanni is the most respected Gym Leader in the Kanto Region."
"You were raised by Mr. Giovanni himself."
"So why did you end up on this kind of path?"
"By rights, you should've had an incredibly bright future."
Alexa wasn't just doing it for show.
She was genuinely, intensely curious.
After all, Damian debuted in his first year and crushed all his rivals, taking the Indigo Plateau Conference Champion.
Saying he was dazzling was not an exaggeration.
And he had an official background too.
"Yes. A lot of people have asked me that question, and there are various factors."
Damian let out a soft laugh.
"If I try to explain it specifically, this story might be a bit long."
"No problem!"
"We'd love to be your audience!"
Alexa said immediately, unable to wait.
"Okay. Let me think—where should I start?"
Damian made a thinking face.
"When I was very young, my mother passed away."
"And I originally had a very adorable little brother—but when I was also still a kid, my little brother was kidnapped and vanished."
"Sorry."
Alexa met Damian's eyes with an apologetic look.
So… because of an unfortunate childhood?
No, it shouldn't be that simple.
"After that, I vaguely understood that this world isn't as beautiful as people imagine. It has a very cruel side."
"My Dad really loved me."
"I always knew that."
"But he had his own work, and he was busy."
"I could only read books by myself."
"I could only watch videos by myself."
"I could only fall asleep in my own dark room alone."
Damian continued, his tone calm.
But the listeners couldn't stay calm.
Caitlin's faint smile slowly vanished as she stared at the boy under the spotlight.
Dawn gently bit her lip, her feelings complicated.
She had a happy, privileged upbringing and had been a little princess since she was young.
For her, it was hard to imagine the life Damian described.
A mother who passed away.
A little brother who vanished.
A Dad who was busy.
And living your own life alone.
This…
"My Dad is an excellent and dedicated Gym Leader. Yes—very excellent and very dedicated."
"Because of him, as a kid my dream was to become an excellent Trainer."
"Later, as I grew up, he gave me my first Pokémon in my life."
"It was a shiny Gastly."
"I loved it."
"And it was so adorable—so hardworking."
A faint smile appeared on Damian's face.
"I left Viridian City with Gastly."
"Maybe, for me personally, that journey was meaningful."
"But it also felt kind of meaningless, too."
"Why would you say that?"
Alexa, who had been listening carefully and silently, couldn't help sounding puzzled.
"What is the meaning of a journey?"
"Is it the journey itself?"
"Or is it the little things you experience throughout?"
"Or is it the result—the end point of the journey?"
Damian asked with a light chuckle.
"That… uh…"
Alexa was stuck.
"I was thinking about that too."
"My journey went smoothly."
"Smoothly beyond what I expected."
"In my journey, I met my current girlfriend."
"In my journey, I gained more Pokémon partners."
"In my journey, I truly experienced my own growth firsthand."
"I saw a lot."
"I felt a lot."
Damian tapped his thigh lightly with a finger, his eyes slightly unfocused, as if recalling the past.
"I saw Team Rocket members in black uniforms with my own eyes."
"That was the first time I ran into Team Rocket."
"They robbed a household."
"They stole the Pokémon of a family child."
"And that kid was crying really loudly."
"They even held that child hostage."
"They threatened that couple to hand over even more money."
"I really don't understand."
"Why are there people like that in the world?"
Damian said calmly.
Alexa wanted to say something, but held back and didn't interrupt.
"I beat those Team Rocket members."
"And I called the police."
"I notified Officer Jenny."
"When they were taken away, they still cursed me."
"I still don't understand."
"Even though they were the ones who did wrong."
"I stopped them from continuing to commit crimes."
"Why did they still have to insult me?"
Damian's voice was magnetic and clear.
The entire living room fell silent.
"I saved a family."
"They expressed gratitude toward me."
"And when they learned I was Giovanni's son…"
"They were really happy."
"They said, as expected, I'm Giovanni's son."
"My Dad trained a good son."
"I still don't understand."
"Even though I saved them… what does that have to do with my Dad?"
"On the road, this kind of situation happened a lot."
Alexa's heart skipped a beat.
Something was off.
"My journey continued."
"I earned eight badges and participated in the Indigo Plateau Conference."
"I beat every opponent easily."
"And I suddenly became conscious of something."
"Maybe it wasn't that they were too weak."
"Maybe I was just too strong."
"I might be that special person."
Damian's lips curled up.
"Actually, after I won the Indigo Plateau Conference, on my way back through Viridian City, I encountered a Team Rocket Admin and a few Team Rocket members."
"That Admin recognized me."
"And he extended an invitation to me, hoping I'd join Team Rocket."
"Team Rocket—on my journey, I ran into them many times."
"Every time, they were doing evil."
"They were the worms under Kanto's underground."
"The shadow of this world."
Damian gently rubbed his fingertips together.
"I wanted to reject them."
"But Miss Alexa—guess what I saw?"
"What?"
Alexa was completely hooked by the story already.
"The first time I ran into those Team Rocket members, they were standing right behind that Admin."
"What?!"
This "what?" from Alexa had a totally different tone—full of shock.
"But weren't they…"
"By me?" Damian finished her thought.
"Yes."
"I was also confused."
"They were supposed to have already been taken by Officer Jenny and locked in a cell."
"I asked that Admin."
"And he just laughed and told me."
"Only keeping them under custody."
"They had plenty of ways to pull people out."
This…!!
Alexa's pupils trembled slightly.
She could even imagine the self-satisfied expression and mocks on that Admin's face when he said it.
As for who he was laughing at—
Couldn't say, couldn't say.
"I didn't even know what I was thinking at the time."
"I asked him again."
"Why did your Team Rocket do so many evil things?"
"And you know what he said to me?"
Alexa shook her head.
"He said with a playful smile."
"If you want to do it, you do it."
"Do you even need a reason?"
Not just Alexa—cameraman brother and Viola and the others too.
They all felt a jolt in their hearts at that moment.
"If you want to do it, you do it?"
What kind of attitude is that?!
Five words, so lightweight—
But the things you guys did were all like that…?!
"At that moment, I understood."
"My childhood instincts weren't wrong."
"This world isn't purely beautiful."
"And this sky…"
"It's not really that clear, that blue."
"Also, I felt what he said was very reasonable."
"Some things—you just have to do them if you want to."
Damian tilted his head slightly.
His tone stayed calm.
"So I agreed to that Admin's invitation."
"And I joined Team Rocket."
"Then why did you make that decision back then?"
When Alexa heard it, she froze.
She still didn't understand.
She knew Team Rocket was that evil.
She knew Team Rocket was the shadow that made the world imperfect.
And yet, she still had to join it?
Weren't you supposed to wipe it out?
"Miss Alexa, do you know?"
"Human hearts are the hardest thing to predict."
"Where there's light, there will inevitably be shadow."
"To wipe out Team Rocket completely?"
"How easy do you think that is?"
"Do you have any idea how huge Team Rocket's scale is?"
"Or think about it this way—if you wipe out this Team Rocket…"
"Would the dark world just disappear?"
"Under the ground, it would still stay there."
"Today it's Team Rocket."
"Tomorrow it could be the train team."
"After that, it could be the flying team."
Damian let out a soft laugh.
He couldn't help teasing.
"Instead of wiping them out or annihilating them…"
"How about mastering them completely and keeping them under control? Don't you think?"
Alexa's head was buzzing.
She got it!
"This world isn't perfect."
"This sky is always going to have dark clouds over it."
"In every Region, people are crying."
"There's no way around it."
"Because the shadow of human hearts is that terrifying and creepy."
"So you can see it."
"In Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova…"
"Across every piece of land, there are all kinds of evil teams."
"Making the world clean again is… insanely hard."
"But if someone has to change the order of the world—"
Damian opened his arms wide.
A crazed smile crossed his face.
"Why can't that person be me?"
Yes.
If someone could change the world…
Why couldn't it be me—Damian?
For a moment, the entire living room went silent.
A pin could've been heard dropping.
Alexa stared at the boy across from her.
At this moment, she felt her goosebumps rise all over her body!
Caitlin finally stopped that polite smile that didn't reach her teeth.
This time she smiled happily, proudly.
Waaah—Mr. Damian!!!
Dawn clenched her little fists, so excited she almost wanted to jump up.
Mr. Damian!!
Why is he so damn cool?!
Serena's eyes sparkled too.
Her eyes were completely filled with that boy.
Viola pressed her lips together.
This was just…
Alexa kept taking deep breaths, trying to calm her surging emotions.
She had genuinely never experienced something like this before.
Listening to the guest speak—
Her whole body got goosebumps.
But it wasn't because she felt disgust.
It was a kind of sensation she couldn't put into words.
It was simply—
So stimulating. Really stimulating.
"Mr. Damian… you're really… so great!"
Great—no further words needed.
For a moment, Alexa didn't even know what to say.
All she could say was "great."
"Miss Alexa, you're overpraising me."
"Then I'll reintroduce myself to the audience."
Damian said modestly.
His handsome face kept that smile as he looked at the camera.
"Hi everyone, I'm Damian—Damian, the boss of Team Rocket!"
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