[A/N: Exams are on this week I swear guys, I'll be back updating on the 19th. I gotta lock in because this is the finals.]
Giovanni slowly walked through the corridors of Viridian Base, looking at the destroyed ruins and broken walls, and rubbed his head helplessly.
"This will probably cost a lot of Poké dollars to repair."
In fact, compared to this, the resources wasted by Team Rocket due to the death and injury of so many Team Leaders and Squadron Leader were the most.
Repairing a building only wastes some time; people are hard to find.
Boom!
A fierce Roar sounded at the end of the corridor, accompanied by a huge noise and tremor.
Without thinking, that was the source of the battle and the place Giovanni needed to reach.
Giovanni quickened his pace a little, then let out a soft sound of surprise; he saw two people lying unconscious and disheveled, pressed under a collapsed wall.
Giovanni was quite interested in Vicious, this ambitious fellow, so he naturally remembered the two of them.
"Isn't this Vicious and Yotaro?"
It was normal that Vicious wasn't dead, but Giovanni was quite surprised that Yotaro could survive.
For Giovanni, this collapsed wall was nothing; he just raised his hand, placed it on top, and gently applied force, lifting it up.
The two pale-faced fellows felt a bit better, though they still looked quite miserable.
Then Giovanni's fingers glowed with a faint green light, and he gently touched them.
The two people who had been unconscious instantly coughed up two mouthfuls of clotted blood, and the hideous wounds on their bodies stopped bleeding, after which they woke up.
Although Giovanni wore a meowth mask on his face, neither Vicious nor Yotaro would ever forget his incredibly dark eyes.
Vicious shouted excitedly, "Sir! You really came back."
Giovanni didn't expect Vicious to be so excited to see him, but then he thought, if it weren't for Celebi's information.
Vicious's ambition would not have been enough to give him the courage to have rebellious thoughts against Giovanni; now, he probably only felt fear and respect for Giovanni.
Boom!
An Explosion sounded, accompanied by a Pokémon's piercing shriek.
Giovanni looked back, then pulled out two Super Potions and threw them to them.
"I don't have time to chat with you now, or Anke might not hold on."
After speaking, Giovanni stomped his foot, "Go take a look, if the short one is in trouble, save him first."
Haunter immediately transformed from Giovanni's shadow upon hearing this, and swiftly moved forward.
Giovanni didn't dawdle either and quickly rushed over.
Yotaro and Vicious held the Super Potions in their hands, looked at the wall that had been lifted and thrown aside, and besides being shocked by Giovanni's powerful physique, they also felt a strong sense of gratitude.
However, they both seemed to have forgotten that Anke was still fighting Captain Price desperately to protect them!
Originally, Anke's strength was not much different from Captain Price's.
But with Captain Price, with the help of Raven, taking in many subordinates, and those subordinates individually presenting him with gifts, under such circumstances.
His strength also advanced by leaps and bounds, leading to his current complete suppression of Anke.
In just this short time, among Anke's subordinates, only his main Pokémon, Graveler, was still struggling.
Of course, Anke was not that useless; he at least managed to take out four of Captain Price's Pokémon.
However, against Captain Price's main Pokémon, Tauros, it was still not enough.
And besides Tauros, Captain Price also had two Gym Leader Level early-stage Scyther and a powerful Blastoise.
Starter Pokémon were not that difficult for a Team Leader to acquire.
Coupled with the Starter Pokémon's own potential, the three-stage evolution allowed them to quickly become stronger and eventually catch up to Captain Price's main Pokémon.
Anke gritted his teeth and shouted at Graveler, who was being attacked by three Pokémon, "Come on, Graveler, hold on."
"I don't have time to waste here with you." Captain Price snorted coldly, then gave an order to Tauros.
"Tauros! Horn Attack then use Close Combat to finish off Graveler!"
Tauros let out a low Roar, its eyes instantly bloodshot, its whole body muscles tensed, poised for action.
It let out a low growl and charged forward fiercely, its sharp horns glinting with cold light, heading straight for Graveler.
Seeing this, Graveler clenched its fists, trying to use its hard body to resist Tauros's charge.
But the strength difference between the two was too great; Graveler was seen being violently knocked away by Tauros, collapsing a nearby wall, raising a cloud of dust.
"Graveler!" Anke was burning with anxiety.
Seeing Anke like this, Captain Price's lips curled into a cold smile, and he commanded Scyther and Blastoise to attack simultaneously.
"Scyther, use X-Scissor to take out that human!"
"Blastoise, use Hydro Pump to finish off that Graveler!"
Scyther's figure flashed, turning into a green afterimage, its two sharp scythes crisscrossing in the air, forming a brilliant cross of light, heading straight for Anke's head.
Meanwhile, Blastoise calmly charged up, the cannons on its shell slightly rotating, Water-type energy gathering within them, a powerful stream of water condensing behind it, ready to deliver a fatal blow to Graveler.
Anke's face changed drastically upon seeing this; he gritted his teeth, his eyes showing some madness, "Graveler, use Explosion!"
Anke shouted loudly, hoping Graveler could break free from the rubble and use Explosion to take down Tauros and the others with it.
But Graveler was dizzy from Tauros's impact and was currently struggling to climb out of the rubble, completely unable to heed Anke's command.
Scyther's X-Scissor was already closing in, about to cut Anke in half.
Just at this critical moment, a black shadow suddenly floated up from the ground, and a pair of black claws directly grabbed Anke, narrowly pulling him away and helping him dodge Scyther's X-Scissor.
Captain Price saw Anke, who was supposed to be dead, suddenly dodge, and his eyes were incredibly cold.
"Who!"
Although he was suddenly pulled away, he fortunately survived; Anke looked at the Pokémon behind him with lingering fear, only to find it was a Haunter.
Although its strength wasn't particularly strong, by relying on the Ghost-type Pokémon's special nature, it had saved him, and it seemed to have quite good potential.
"Only he could train such a Pokémon." Anke looked back with a hint of expectation in his eyes.
Thump! Thump! A series of footsteps rapidly approached.
The figure wearing the meowth mask appeared in their line of sight.
Giovanni, delayed for a moment, had finally arrived!
Unlike Anke, who recognized Giovanni at a glance, Captain Price, who hadn't seen Giovanni for a year and with the mask's concealment, clearly didn't recognize Giovanni.
"Who are you?"
Giovanni gently took off the mask on his face and replied to Captain Price:
"What? You don't recognize me after just one year, Team Leader Captain Price?"