What the heck do you mean you're still in your development phase? The extra years at the end of your age are probably more than my whole age.
Damian was speechless. He could only say that this pink cat was getting more and more thick-skinned.
But forget it. Having such a young heart was also quite good.
"It looks like you've been doing well lately. That makes me feel better."
Damian originally just wanted to see how Regigigas and Mew were doing.
"Mew, you should take more responsibility too. After all, you are the master of the Tree of Beginning. Don't just push everything onto Regigigas."
"Yeah, yeah~ I know, mew! I am very responsible."
Mew patted its chest and made a promise.
"?"
Damian looked doubtful. However, seeing that Regigigas on the side didn't say anything, he let it go for now.
Then, Damian asked Mew for a Time Flower from inside the Tree of Beginning.
A Time Flower can record and save images from the past. If you wake it up again, you can see that recorded past.
According to the movie's content, the true feelings Sir Aaron described back then were also recorded by the Time Flower inside the Tree of Beginning.
Such a small thing was naturally nothing. Mew happily trotted inside and brought the Time Flower out.
Damian took the Time Flower and returned to Ash and the others.
"Ash, release that Lucario."
"Oh, okay. Lucario!"
Although Ash didn't know the reason, he still released the Lucario from Cameron Palace.
Unlike the original story, the Lucario here seemed much closer to Ash compared to the movie. However, the knot in Lucario's heart was still about Sir Aaron from hundreds of years ago.
The Time Flower was awakened and bloomed. Sir Aaron's self-description at the time of his death inside the Tree of Beginning appeared.
Lucario's eyes became blurry with tears. Beside him, Ash, who had a strong ability to feel others' emotions, was naturally very moved.
Afterward, Ash had a heart-to-heart talk with Lucario. Lucario resolved the knot in his heart and accepted Ash's invitation, becoming his partner.
"Congratulations, Ash. You've gained another great partner."
Damian clapped and congratulated Ash. This result was truly very good.
"Ha! With Lucario, I will definitely win the Indigo League championship this year!" Ash was full of fighting spirit and excitement.
"Pika! Pikachu!"
The electric mouse was also very confident, cutely holding its small fists.
"Hehehe..."
Paul gave a cold scoff.
"You! What do you mean by that?"
Ash immediately became unhappy.
"If even a half-baked trainer like you can win the championship, then your Indigo League must really have no one left," Paul said calmly.
"Huh?!! You arrogant guy, you actually say I'm a half-baked trainer?" Ash was furious.
What kind of person is this? He only won once, yet he is so arrogant!
"Is that not the case?" Paul put his hands in his pockets. He still had a calm and indifferent look. He even asked a question back.
"Your commands are not precise. You have no tactics. You rely only on a burst of passion. In battle, you can't even bring out the advantages of the Pokémon themselves."
"A third-rate trainer and fourth-rate Pokémon. You are really wasting your talent."
Paul spoke and judged without being polite at all.
There was no doubt that Ash's talent as a trainer was definitely very good. After all, Paul could tell that Ash definitely didn't do special training often.
But even so, Ash's strength was still very strong.
One could see how much talent he had from that.
"Curse you!! Who are you calling a third-rate trainer and fourth-rate Pokémon! I want to challenge you to a duel!!"
Ash's face turned red with anger. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to have a "real man's duel" with Paul.
"Calm down, calm down, Ash!"
"That's right, don't be impulsive. Impulsiveness is the devil!"
Misty and Brock quickly pulled Ash back. They were afraid Ash would really lose his head.
"Don't stop me! That jerk, his expressionless face is too much! He just won once!"
Ash wouldn't let it go. This annoying guy. It was fine to talk about him, but he actually talked about his Pokémon.
How could he tolerate this!
"Um... Paul, aren't you being a bit too much? Everyone is under Team Rocket now," Platinum thought for a moment and said softly to Paul.
Also, she felt that Paul's attitude toward Ash was a bit strange. Paul was usually a very rational person. Why did he like mocking Ash so much?
"How about you apologize to Ash?"
Even Platinum felt that what Paul said just now was really too much.
"I refuse."
Paul turned his head away. He was silent for a while and then spoke again.
"I can't stand people who waste their talent like that. Guys who only talk about things like 'bonds' and 'friendship'. By shouting those things, can you really become stronger?"
Platinum smiled awkwardly at Ash's trio. No matter what, in terms of their relationship, she was definitely closer to Paul.
And Platinum also knew that although Paul was a bit strict at times, his nature was not bad.
"I'm sorry. Paul didn't mean it. That is just his personality. Ash, you don't need to take it to heart," Platinum said to Ash.
Ash huffed and breathed heavily. He clenched his fists and stared closely at Paul.
"Everyone is under Team Rocket. You shouldn't have such a conflict," Damian finally spoke. He smiled and tried to smooth things over.
"Trainer matters should ultimately be decided by strength. How about this? At the end of the year, Ash, Paul, why don't you two have another battle?"
"If Ash can defeat Paul at that time, then Paul, you should apologize to Ash for your inappropriate words today."
"If Ash is still not Paul's match..."
Damian looked at Ash.
"I won't lose to him again!! Absolutely not!" Ash's tone was extremely firm.
He could lose to anyone, but he definitely didn't want to lose to this expressionless guy again!
Paul glanced at Ash and didn't say anything.
"Fine then. You can handle your own matters," Damian shrugged.
"By the way, I just saw a piece of news. How about you three, Ash, take a trip?" Damian looked at his phone and said to Ash.
"Ah?"
"It's about Viridian City. There are a few traitors. Not only did they betray Team Rocket, but they also robbed a family of their money and a child's Pokémon on the outskirts of Viridian City. Tsk~"
Damian was still smiling, but anyone could see that there was no warmth in that smile.
"What? That's too much!" Ash immediately became angry.
"Traitors of Team Rocket?" Brock frowned.
"Yes. After all, Team Rocket has only just been reformed. There are many old-timers from the previous era who refuse to adapt to the rules of the New Team Rocket. So, there is nothing that can be done about this kind of thing."
Damian nodded. Many original members of Team Rocket had already adapted to a life of doing whatever they wanted. Now that they were suddenly asked not to do evil, their true nature could only be suppressed.
It was normal for some people who couldn't stand this kind of restriction to betray Team Rocket.
"Then they are naturally evil bad guys! Leave it to us, Damian. We will capture those guys!"
Ash agreed without hesitation and made a promise to Damian.
"Good. I will send you the contact information for Archer, who is in charge of this area. When the time comes, you can contact Archer to get the information and data on those traitors. Once you catch the people, contact Archer and let him send someone to take over."
Damian said with a smile.
Archer?
When Ash heard this name, he couldn't help but scratch his head. He still had some impression of Archer, a high-ranking Executive of Team Rocket. Back on the St. Anne, Archer was the leader of Team Rocket.
He didn't expect that one day he would cooperate with Archer. This world change was really... too ridiculous.
But it seemed that this Archer had also turned over a new leaf. That was a good thing.
"Okay," Ash agreed.
"Now Team Rocket has changed. For guys like this who are still ruining Team Rocket's reputation, we must strike hard."
"Ash, I'll leave this matter to you. You must catch them. At the same time, give some compensation to the family that was harmed by those scumbags. After all, those jerks also ran out from Team Rocket."
Damian continued to speak to Ash.
"As for the compensation amount, Team Rocket will provide it to you."
"Okay! Leave it to me, Damian! I will definitely catch those traitors!"
Ash was excited. His eyes were bright. He liked this kind of heroic action!
"By the way, if a trainer like you joins Team Rocket, Team Rocket will reward you with an excellent Ultra Beast."
Damian patted Ash's shoulder. Then, he took out his phone and scrolled to the Ultra Beast list.
"Eh? This is not..." Ash was startled, then immediately prepared to refuse.
"Don't refuse. This is a benefit from Team Rocket. It is also Team Rocket's recognition of your potential. Platinum and Paul have them too."
"That's right, Ash. Ultra Beasts are very excellent Pokémon. If you want to defeat Paul in the future, an Ultra Beast will definitely be a great help."
Platinum spoke from the side to help.
"Exactly, exactly. Ash, take a look." Misty also felt it made a lot of sense. "Ultra Beast" sounded like a very powerful Pokémon.
Brock was speechless. He felt that Misty had already been "bought over."
"Um... okay."
Ash scratched his head. To be honest, he was also very interested in Ultra Beasts. If he remembered correctly, the Buzzwole that Paul used before was one of the Ultra Beasts, right?
"Let's take a look."
Ash leaned his head over. Nihilego, Buzzwole, Pheromosa, Xurkitree...
"Wow! This Pheromosa is so beautiful!"
Misty couldn't help but exclaim.
Judging only from the pictures in the Pokédex, Pheromosa was indeed magnificent.
"It's not just beautiful, it's also very strong." Platinum's pretty face showed a sweet smile.
Yes, she liked her Pheromosa very much.
Misty's eyes lit up with hearts. Although Pheromosa didn't have the Water type and was even her disliked Bug type, its appearance was truly too elegant!
"I don't have any special feeling for Pheromosa."
Ash didn't really feel a connection with Pheromosa. He scratched his head, feeling very troubled.
"Instead, I quite like this one."
Ash pointed at Poipole and Naganadel. Naganadel was the evolved form of Poipole.
"Then Poipole? Or do you want the already evolved Naganadel?"
Damian laughed lightly. Sure enough, Ash still chose Naganadel.
After all, Naganadel was one of Ash's main champions in the Sun & Moon series. It also showed that Ash indeed had a connection with Naganadel.
"Poipole. I want to train it myself." Ash rubbed his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Getting a talented and excellent Pokémon for free made Ash feel a little shy.
"Okay, wait a moment." Damian made a phone call to Lusamine.
Ultra Beasts were basically all raised over at Aether Paradise.
"Ash, don't be embarrassed. If you feel like you haven't earned it, then take Poipole with you to strike against evil forces more often. Work hard with Team Rocket for a clear and blue tomorrow."
Damian patted Ash's shoulder and said with a smile.
"I understand!"
Ash took a breath and nodded solemnly.
No wonder Gym Leader Erika was with Damian. As expected, Damian is not a bad person!
Damian is the person who changed Team Rocket from its roots. His ideal is to eliminate all other villain teams. How could he be a bad person?
Ash swore! He would definitely work hard with Damian to strike against evil forces! Team Rocket is righteous, I tell you!
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