Chapter 410:
Same Day, Same Time.
Across most of Kanto, as the clock struck the appointed hour, the entire region seemed to erupt into controlled chaos. Evacuation of civilians, mobilization of local police forces—all completed within a matter of minutes.
Then came the arrests.
Resistance flared in some places, with Team Rocket members struggling fiercely. But under the League's meticulous preparation and the advantage of complete surprise, the vast majority of targeted locations were swiftly secured.
However, some locations proved particularly troublesome. Team Rocket operatives produced strange, black Poké Balls. Catching the League's Pokémon off guard, they captured them with these devices. When released moments later, the Pokémon turned to face their former Trainers.
"Arcanine!"
"Pidgeot! No!"
"Hahaha! Have fun dealing with your own Pokémon! Let's go, Murkrow!"
A high-ranking Rocket executive, witnessing this, grabbed onto his Murkrow's legs, attempting to make an airborne escape.
Suddenly, he froze.
Because in the sky above him, a small, pink, feline Pokémon had appeared, accompanied by another small, odd-looking creature.
"Mew... Mew?!" The Rocket executive was stunned. The Mew they had searched for so long was now right before his eyes. Why now? In normal circumstances, discovering Mew's trace would have led to elaborate capture plans exploiting its habits. But now, facing the cheerfully grinning Mew, all he could do was pray silently it wouldn't cause him trouble.
Murphy's Law dictates that the thing you least want to happen, does.
The playful Mew glanced below, then at the Murkrow before it. Its eyes glowed. Immediately, every Pokémon in the vicinity—even those locked in battle—paused, then slowly slumped into a deep sleep.
"Hey! Hey! Murkrow?!" The airborne executive could only watch helplessly as his Pokémon, now asleep, began a rapid descent toward the ground.
The League officers below, witnessing this, were momentarily stunned.
"What are you all standing around for? Cuff them!" The lead investigator's roar snapped them back to action, and they moved to secure the dazed Rocket members.
"Mew~!" With a cheerful chirp, Mew and its companion vanished into thin air.
***
Near Pallet Town.
Red, with his dark hair, red jacket, and cap, rode atop his Charizard, various other Pokémon by his side.
Facing him was a dull-eyed, purple, humanoid Pokémon. However, the energy emanating from this creature was highly unstable, as if it had suffered a severe blow. The next second, it exploded with a *BANG*.
"A Pokémon this powerful with no true consciousness? No... it's an energy construct, an imitation." Red's expression turned serious.
The Team Rocket executive on the ground, recognizing who he was facing, felt all hope of escape drain away. He could only rage inwardly. *If not for Mewtwo's initial rampage... if we had just gathered enough of Mew's cellular material... we could have successfully created a second, even a third Mewtwo! Not this unstable energy shell we were forced to resort to!*
All he could do now was shout his frustration. "Damn it! We were so close!"
"Save it for your League interrogation! Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Red commanded with a wave of his hand. On the ground, Pikachu unleashed dozens of arm-thick bolts of lightning, striking each Team Rocket member with pinpoint accuracy.
***
The Distortion World.
"Aren't you worried about leaving those two there?" Mewtwo, on the way to the final offshore facility with Kaede, couldn't help but ask.
Its impression of Salamence's temperament was still stuck on its former, violently hostile attitude towards humans. Leaving it behind like that... seemed somewhat risky. Dragonite was somewhat better.
Giratina led the way ahead. Kaede shook his head. "Let it be. It can do as it likes. The resentment it's held onto needs to be vented somehow."
From the very beginning, he had never intended to restrict Salamence or Dragonite's actions. Just as he had told Salamence at the start: *As long as you don't harm the innocent, I won't oppose anything you do.*
Mewtwo fell silent.
The cleanup operation had proceeded with unexpected smoothness. Although these offshore facilities were heavily guarded, the sudden, overwhelming strike meant most of their defensive measures and technology never had a chance to be deployed.
Now, only one sea-based facility remained.
But realistically, Kaede was only one person. Before the last facility could be dealt with, Team Rocket had begun to react.
Within Team Rocket's ranks, chaos had erupted.
***
Giovanni sat in his office chair, his face dark as a storm cloud.
Starting at 10 AM this morning, it was as if some curse had descended. His research facilities across Kanto were being taken down, one by one. The worst part? He hadn't received a single whisper of warning.
The only unusual activity had been Lance, the Champion, moving personnel around in recent days. Something about a joint-defense drill? And now that the "drill" was over, even Red had come down from Mt. Silver?
The League had pinpointed the vast majority of the facilities and launched a perfectly coordinated blitz. And from the looks of it, they had also seized all the research data on Pokémon experimentation? The speed and scale of the fallout were staggering. In just over ten minutes, the news had spread across all of Kanto. Graphic images of the experimented Pokémon were spreading like wildfire through networks and communities.
Public outrage in Kanto was exploding. Suppressing this? Impossible. This scandal would haunt them for a very long time.
"These fools!" Giovanni took a deep, controlled breath.
Regarding the research facilities, he hadn't been overly attached to the idea initially. His primary goal was profit. Then, one day, a proposal had landed on his desk: the possibility of creating a Pokémon surpassing even Mew using Mew's genetic material.
He approved the funding.
In the end? Well, Mewtwo was created. Its power was immense. But then... it escaped.
After that, his initial instinct was to terminate the research. But then another proposal arrived: the blood of high-level Dragon-type Pokémon had significant applications, potentially allowing for the forced capture of powerful Pokémon.
Fine. Let the facilities continue. Some of the research did, admittedly, turn a profit.
But trouble, once started, tends to multiply. Most of the Dragon-types had been liberated by Mewtwo during its escape...
"Sir, we've found the anomaly in the League's operation this time!" At that moment, Matori hurried into the room. (Matori is Giovanni secretary)