Ash didn't hear him. "You're Giovanni?"
Ash asked.
"That's right, I'm Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket."
Giovanni answered Ash's question, holding his wine glass.
"Then you've come to the right place."
"What do you want from me?" This time it was Giovanni who asked.
"Defeat you." Ash quickly adapted to the pressure and replied.
"Just defeat me?" Giovanni continued swirling his wine glass.
"Take Team Rocket from you."
Ash chuckled.
"Oh? What a fine ambition." Giovanni smiled as he saw Ash say this.
"So, are you going to hand over Team Rocket now, or should I defeat you and then take Team Rocket from you?"
Ash asked with a smile.
"You're very confident."
Giovanni said.
"Of course, I wouldn't have come to you if I wasn't confident."
Ash replied.
"Very well, how about a bet?"
Giovanni smiled.
"A bet?" Ash frowned.
"It's simple, not a difficult bet. If you win, I'll give you Team Rocket. If you lose, you'll be a member of Team Rocket and work for me. Are you willing to bet?"
Giovanni took a sip of red wine.
"Of course I am. I won't lose so easily."
Ash chuckled.
"Very well, I only have this one Pokémon, and you can use as many as you want, even all of them at once against just my one Pokémon, no problem right." Giovanni took out a Poké Ball, placed it on the table, and said to Ash.
"You really trust your Pokémon," Ash smiled.
"Of course," Giovanni returned the smile.
"Go ahead." Giovanni released his Pokémon, another one Ash had never seen before.
"This Pokémon is called Deoxys, it's a Pokémon made by Dr. Steel using the DNA of a meteorite." Giovanni smiled confidently.
"DNA..." Ash had never seen a DNA Pokémon before; it seemed like this was going to be a tough battle.
"I don't think this room is suitable for fighting." Ash looked around; it was over fifty square meters, indeed not small, but it couldn't possibly hold many large Pokémon.
"Alright, then let's go to the rooftop to fight." Giovanni stood up and walked out of the office. Ash followed him out; outside, Domino was still waiting for Ash and Giovanni.
"All done?" Domino, surprised that Giovanni and Ash were out so quickly, walked over and asked.
"Just getting started. Let's go to the rooftop." Giovanni smiled and walked straight to the stairs beside him. Ash followed.
"Really." Domino smiled, resting her cheek on her hand, watching Ash and Giovanni head to the rooftop.
Upon reaching the rooftop and opening the door, the strong wind outside almost made Ash lose his balance, while Giovanni stood firm like a pillar, unmoved. This impressed Ash.
Ash and Giovanni walked to the center of the roof. "Let's begin this round," Giovanni said as he threw his Poké ball.
"Okay, go, Zapdos!" Ash immediately threw out Zapdos.
"Oh, it's Zapdos. Not bad, not bad." Giovanni gave an approving look when he saw Ash release a legendary Pokémon on his first try.
"Go, Zapdos, use Thunderbolt!" Ash immediately gave the order. "Attack freely." Giovanni didn't give any further commands, simply letting Deoxys do as it pleased.
Deoxys was indeed very strong. Even Zapdos was somewhat at a disadvantage against it. After more than ten hits, Zapdos was clearly struggling. Although it was a bit underhanded, with Giovanni's tacit approval, Ash released his second legendary Pokémon, Keldeo.
The two legendary Pokémon only managed a draw against Deoxys, with Keldeo his side still feeling somewhat suppressed. They couldn't defeat Deoxys at all. Finally, Ash ran out of options and had to throw out all his Pokémon. A massive battle erupted on the rooftop of Team Rocket's headquarters, with ten Pokémon ganging up on one. Giovanni, seeing that Ash had so many Pokémon, and each one of them was quite strong, couldn't help but look at Ash with newfound respect, his admiration growing stronger.
Even ten Pokémon couldn't quickly overwhelm Deoxys, which made Ash very anxious, fearing something might go wrong.
"Um... Giovanni, boss."
Ash didn't know how to address Giovanni properly, so he just called him what everyone else did.
"What?" Giovanni looked at Ash as he called him over and asked.
"Can I go too?"
Ash asked awkwardly.
"What?" Giovanni was stunned by Ash's question. He was actually going to participate in the Pokémon battle as a human? Wasn't that just cannon fodder?
"If I go, it's not considered foul, right?"
Ash quickly asked when he saw Giovanni's hesitation.
"Uh...uh...it's not considered foul."
Giovanni hesitated for a moment after hearing Ash's question, but still granted permission.
"Okay, you said it, don't go back on your word." Hearing Giovanni's words, Ash immediately rolled up his sleeves, cracked his neck, and charged into the battle, shouting as he did so, "everyone let's kill this bastard!"
It was like a brawl between thugs… After Ash joined the battle, Deoxys clearly became hesitant, not attacking with its full strength. Ash didn't know why, but since the enemy wasn't going all out, why not take the opportunity to defeat it? Waiting until it really went all out would be a huge disadvantage.
After Ash joined the battle, Deoxys was clearly struggling to adapt, while Ash's Pokémon attacked even more relentlessly. Gradually, Deoxys became weaker and weaker. After another half hour of fighting, Ash and his Pokémon finally managed to defeat Deoxys and bring it to the ground.
"How was that?" Ash stood up, panting heavily, stretching, where Deoxys had fought. Most of the other Pokémon were also exhausted and panting heavily on the ground. Deoxys was really ruthless.
Ash stood up, panting heavily, stretching his arms and back. Deoxys had been merciless, those whip-like tentacles had lashed him hard enough to tear skin. If he hadn't trained his body to superhuman levels, those few direct hits would have shredded any normal person into mincemeat.
"Not bad." Giovanni nodded. Ash's strength was even greater than Giovanni had expected. Giovanni had initially thought Ash would definitely lose, but Ash had actually won. Moreover, the fighting power Ash displayed just now, no weaker than that of a Pokémon, greatly impressed Giovanni.
"Then you should keep your promise," Ash said, smiling at Giovanni.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Giovanni shouted "yes" three times, then took out his phone, dialed a number, and spoke into the other end.
"Go and summon all the Team Rocket executives and core members, including those who betrayed. Tell them I have something very important to say." Giovanni's words clearly indicated he knew about Dr. Steel's betrayal.
But thinking about it, Giovanni was a high-ranking figure; how could he not know about betrayals?
However, the fact that Giovanni didn't immediately eliminate Dr. Steel after learning of his betrayal, but instead waited for Ash to arrive, demonstrated that Giovanni didn't even take Dr. Steel's betrayal seriously; he treated it like a little kid throwing a meaningless tantrum in the mud, something so pathetic and small that it wasn't worth getting angry over or even cleaning up right away. That's why he just waited calmly instead of crushing Dr. Steel immediately.