After Giovanni spared Lance out of respect for Professor Oak, the full-scale war between the Kanto Pokémon League and Team Rocket officially began.
This time, in order to prevent his executives from being hunted down one by one and to stop the League from destroying more Team Rocket bases, Giovanni completely changed his strategy.
He withdrew all Team Rocket personnel and concentrated every remaining force inside the Viridian City headquarters.
The current strength of Team Rocket was as follows:
Master-tier combatant:
Giovanni.
Legendary-tier combatants:
Mewtwo.
The three cloned Legendary Birds.
Champion-tier combatants:
Ariana.
Chakra.
Sird.
Orca.
As for Elite Four-level and pseudo-Elite Four-level executives, there were still dozens remaining.
Of course, most of Team Rocket's strongest Elite Four Peak-level executives had already been eliminated.
The remaining nameless executives could generally be handled by Gym Leaders.
The real concern was the cloned Legendary Birds.
Nobody knew how many clones Team Rocket possessed.
If every executive received one, the Pokémon League would have no chance of resisting.
Meanwhile, with Team Rocket fortifying itself inside Viridian City, Lance also began mobilizing every available force.
Twenty-four Gym Leaders gathered.
Eight from Kanto.
Eight from Johto.
Four from the Orange League.
And four additional League-recognized Gyms.
Even Drake, the Orange League's strongest Trainer and a member of the Dragon Clan, answered the call.
Brock was recalled from his travels.
Likewise, after hearing that his hometown was in danger, Ash suspended his Battle Frontier journey and returned alongside Brock to Mt. Silver.
Several days later—
Virtually every top-tier combatant under the Kanto League's banner had gathered.
Master-tier combatants:
Champion Lance.
Vice Champion Lorelei.
Legendary-tier combatants:
Battle Factory Head Noland, trainer of Articuno.
Battle Pyramid Head Brandon, wielder of Heatran.
Champion-tier combatants:
Bruno.
Bertha.
Pryce.
Brandon.
Drake.
Elite Four-tier combatants:
Sabrina.
Ash.
Blaine.
Clair.
Pseudo-Elite Four-level Gym Leaders:
Brock.
Misty.
Daisy.
Violet.
Lily.
Erika.
Falkner.
Bugsy.
Whitney.
Morty.
Chuck.
Jasmine.
Dunston.
Danny.
Rudy.
Luana.
Anabel.
Lucy.
Noland.
And many others.
External support:
Aiden Flint, Champion of the Hoenn League and Legendary Pokémon Trainer.
Volkner, newly appointed Elite Four member of Sinnoh.
Together, these people represented:
The twelve Kanto Gym Leaders.
The seven Battle Frontier Brains.
The four Orange League Gym Leaders.
The Orange League Champion.
The eight Johto Gym Leaders.
The Elite Four and Champions of the Pokémon League.
Along with Aiden and Volkner, who had arrived as reinforcements.
The only unexpected participant was Blaine.
Nobody had anticipated that the retired former Elite Four member would answer Lance's summons.
To prevent another infiltration incident, Blaine had spoken privately with Lance.
Afterward, Aiden personally used his Psychic abilities to examine the old man's thoughts before accepting him.
After all—
Mewtwo had only been created because of Blaine's research.
One could even say that Team Rocket's cloning technology originated from him.
What Blaine never expected was that Team Rocket would use that same technology to create cloned Legendary Birds.
Because of that mistake, he chose to stand against Team Rocket.
If Giovanni had never abused the technology in this way, Blaine might never have joined the battle at all.
As for Aiden—
In his opinion, Blaine deserved punishment too.
But this was Kanto's problem.
Not his.
Since Lance chose to accept him, Aiden didn't interfere.
…
When Aiden saw Brock, Ash, May, and Max again at Mt. Silver, a smile appeared on his face.
Ash immediately ran over excitedly.
"Aiden!"
"What are you doing here?"
Aiden laughed.
"So it's you, Ash."
"Looks like Lance called back all the League's elite Trainers this time."
"Of course!"
Ash grinned proudly.
"Aiden, I've already earned six Battle Frontier Symbols!"
"There's only one left!"
"The Battle Pyramid!"
Hearing that, Aiden smiled.
"That's impressive."
"But Brandon is incredibly strong."
"He even has Legendary Pokémon."
"You'll probably be challenged for quite a while."
The moment Ash heard the words Legendary Pokémon, his fighting spirit immediately surged.
"So what if he has a Legendary Pokémon?"
"I won't lose!"
Afterward, Brock, May, and Max all greeted Aiden one by one.
Since Ash had challenged nearly every Gym represented here, he naturally began greeting all the Gym Leaders.
Then—
He saw Misty.
The smile on his face instantly widened.
Even Pikachu reacted first.
Jumping from Ash's shoulder, it rushed directly into Misty's arms.
"Pikachu!"
"Ash!"
"It's been a long time!"
Looking at Misty after so many months apart, Ash smiled happily.
"Misty."
"Looks like you've become an amazing Gym Leader."
"Aiden told me you even participated in League operations."
Misty's face brightened immediately.
"Of course."
"I didn't waste those three years traveling with you, you know."
Watching the reunion, Brock revealed a knowing grin.
At that moment—
Another figure approached.
Rudy.
The Orange League Gym Leader known as the Southern Star.
Years ago, during Ash's journey through the Orange Islands, Rudy had fallen for Misty after she saved his younger sister.
After Ash earned his badge, Rudy had even confessed to Misty and asked her to remain at the Gym.
But she refused.
Whether because she was worried about Ash—
Or because she liked him—
Only she knew.
Now, years later, Rudy saw Misty again.
Her beauty had only grown more striking.
Unable to resist, he stepped forward.
"Miss Misty."
"To think I'd meet you here."
The moment Rudy interrupted the reunion, Aiden's expression darkened slightly.
"Hey."
"Kid."
"Two old friends are having a reunion."
"Why are you barging in?"
In Aiden's opinion—
Ash and Misty were the perfect match.
Sure, May, Dawn, Iris, and Serena all seemed compatible with Ash.
But the value of the original heroine could never be replaced.
More importantly—
Ash clearly treated Misty differently.
And because of that—
Aiden had absolutely no intention of letting anyone ruin the moment.
…
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