Chapter 162 — As Expected of Lord Frieza

After snatching Celebi's Dark Ball from Vicious, the Masked Man didn't hesitate and immediately recalled Celebi into the ball.

"Looks like the Boss got what he wanted," Tree whispered quietly from atop a Xatu behind Lance.

"Stay back, there's trouble," warned Pear Blossom, who was riding on a Murkrow.

Suddenly, an overwhelming presence swept through, startling Tree.

Looking over, they saw Giovanni's face contort as he forcefully threw out a Master Ball.

Then emerged a Pokémon releasing terrifying energy that none present had ever seen before - despite having no wings, it floated effortlessly high in the air.

Could it be a Psychic-type?!

"Lance, I'm going to kill you."

Giovanni was truly murderous this time.

Especially after seeing the Masked Man take Celebi away, he could barely contain his rage.

He had risked exposing his identity, even sacrificing his three executives and abandoning his old territory in Kanto.

After finally developing the Dark Ball and nearly obtaining Celebi with its healing powers within his grasp.

At this final moment.

He ended up doing someone else's work for them.

Giovanni knew clearly that with the Masked Man's strength, once Celebi was in his hands, even with Mewtwo.

It would be impossible to take "803" back from him.

The moment Vicious lost control of Celebi, sending out Mewtwo to grab the Dark Ball was the only chance.

And now, no one could stop the Masked Man from leaving!

How could Giovanni not be furious?

Damn! Damn you, Lance!

"Hmph~ Save that talk for when you're in prison!"

Lance's lips curved into a smirk as he suddenly threw out his ace Dragonite's Poké Ball.

"Kill him, Mewtwo!"

Giovanni commanded coldly.

Mewtwo shot toward the ace Dragonite like a cruise missile.

"Dragon Rush!"

Lance shouted.

Instantly, a deep purple energy wave enveloped Dragonite's massive body over three meters tall, transforming it into a fierce flying dragon.

"Aura Sphere!"

Giovanni ordered coldly.

Mewtwo took a stance similar to the Kamehameha, pushing both palms forward to release a deep blue energy sphere.

The violent shockwave swept through the area.

Wallace and the other Hoenn trainers quickly commanded their Pokémon to use Protect, Reflect and other defensive moves to create protective barriers for the civilians who hadn't yet evacuated behind them.

Before the shockwave had even dissipated, Mewtwo charged straight through the gale toward Dragonite.

When it closed to within five meters of Dragonite, Mewtwo's right hand grasped forward, materializing a huge pale pink blade.

Then heavily slashed at Dragonite's abdomen.

Psycho Cut!

"GROAR!!"

Though it hadn't fainted outright, the intense pain still made Dragonite cry out involuntarily.

"Champion Lance is at a disadvantage?!"

May exclaimed in shock.

Though she was a trainer from Hoenn, as a League-registered trainer, who hadn't heard of Lance's reputation?

Yet that trainer who was possibly not just Kanto's strongest but the world's strongest.

Was being overwhelmed by a wanted criminal?

This completely shattered the worldview of May, an inexperienced young girl.

"Alright, you're useless now..."

Meanwhile on the ground below, Sun Wu Ming removed Suicune's Dark Ball from Vicious, then pointed his other palm toward Vicious, emanating pale golden light waves.

"I really can't think of any reason to spare you, I'll make it quick."

"No, no, please no..."

Lying on the ground, Vicious felt death's scythe drawing closer, and barely managed to raise his hand in desperate plea.

"Wait!"

At this moment, Roxanne, a Hoenn League Gym Leader, rushed over and protested:

"Don't kill him! We might be able to get information about Team Rocket from him!"

From the earlier conversation between Giovanni and Vicious, they could confirm this man was a Team Rocket defector, so he must know quite a bit about Team Rocket.

It would be a waste to kill him.

"What a stubborn woman."

Sun Wu Ming withdrew his energy wave and crushed the Dark Ball in his other hand.

The ominous dark aura surrounding Suicune dissipated along with it.

"Wu Ming!"

Luna ran over.

Sun Wu Ming reached up to stroke Luna's cheek and pointed at the unconscious Suicune, "It's yours now."

"What a grand gesture..."

Witnessing Sun Wu Ming's action, both Steven and Wallace inwardly sighed.

Just casually giving away the legendary Suicune without batting an eye.

What woman could resist that?

"Ah!"

Just then, Roxanne let out a startled cry.

Steven and Wallace turned at her voice.

They saw that just as Roxanne had put handcuffs on Vicious, a Darkrai suddenly emerged from the shadow beneath him.

With one Shadow Claw, it tore open Vicious's throat.

"D-Darkrai?!"

Steven exclaimed in shock.

"Hehe~"

A sharp, grating laugh rang out.

Sird walked slowly to Darkrai's side, looking down at Vicious lying in a pool of blood from his throat.

"S-Sird, you... you..."

Vicious stared at her in disbelief.

"You useless waste, causing me so much trouble, how will you make up for your mistakes?!"

Sird's face bore a cruel smile as she stepped on Vicious's throat wound under the shocked gazes of the three nearby, making it even more gruesome.

"Simply killing you like this is too merciful for a traitor!"

Originally Sird had wanted to take this pig back to Team Rocket for slow torture.

But unfortunately, given the current situation, that would be far too difficult.

With no choice, she had to execute him on the spot.

"Don't move!"

Steven and the others suddenly reacted, surrounding Sird.

Meanwhile, Sun Wu Ming walked toward the Masked Man.

At this moment, the Masked Man's body trembled as he desperately suppressed his wild joy, tightly gripping the Dark Ball containing Celebi as he muttered with quivering voice:

"Finally... finally succeeded... at last... at last I can see you... Lapras... my Lapras..."

"Hey~ old man~"

Sun Wu Ming greeted with a light laugh.

Behind his mask, Kurt's expression changed dramatically.

That form of address...

This, this kid had seen through his true identity?!

"What do you want?"

Kurt struggled to contain his elation as he asked coldly.

"Don't misunderstand, old man, I have no objection to what you want to do, nor any reason to be your enemy."

Sun Wu Ming said with a bright smile:

"But I still want to warn you, time travel is very dangerous."

"Hmph! You think I'm afraid?"

The Masked Man sneered.

Since he had formulated this plan, he had already placed life and death beyond consideration...

"Fine, but after you travel through time, please release Celebi quickly, that Dark Ball thing drains its life force, my yellow mouse said Celebi is its friend and doesn't want it to get hurt."

Sun Wu Ming said with a shrug.

"Mimi!"

The "Pikachu" on Sun Wu Ming's shoulder tugged his cheek in protest, probably complaining "I'm not a yellow mouse" or something similar.

"...Mm."

Kurt responded in a deep voice, then released the still-controlled Celebi from the Dark Ball.

"Celebi, I want you to take me to the past."

The Masked Man said coldly.

"Bi~ri!"

Celebi called out.

Instantly, space-time began to distort, an irregular rift appeared in the air, releasing an intense suction that pulled both Celebi itself and the Masked Man inside.

"BOSS!"

At this moment, Tree and Pear Blossom rushed over, calling out softly to Kurt.

"From now on, go do what you want to do."

After saying these words, the Masked Man completely vanished into the time tunnel.

Since his goal had been achieved, the Masked Organization no longer had any reason to exist.

As for whether he would fulfill his wish and meet the two Lapras he had lost, or be forever lost between the folds of space-time.

That remains unknown.

...

...

BOOM!!!

Just then, a muffled explosion sounded from above.

Looking up, they saw Mewtwo had sent Lance's ace Dragonite flying with a Thrash attack.

"As expected of Lord Frieza, though not yet at the level of a Tier 1 god, dealing with the big guy is still no problem."

Sun Wu Ming stroked his chin with a smile.

He had always thought Mewtwo looked quite similar to a certain Saiyan nemesis.

Of course, it would look even more similar with Mega Evolution.

"No, it can't be... Champion Lance..."

"Our League's strongest trainer... actually..."

"Can we still trust the League?"

"This is terrible, why did we have to encounter something like this."

At this moment, those civilians who hadn't yet been evacuated and were being protected by the Hoenn Gym Leaders behind them all fell into an existential crisis after witnessing this scene.

This was understandable.

After all, until today, Lance had always been portrayed by the League as invincible, undefeated, and omnipotent.

Without exaggeration, he was the guardian deity of not just the entire League, but the whole Pokémon continent.

If Lance had been defeated by Red or Green, that kind of proper trainer, it would be one thing.

But being defeated by Giovanni, a wanted criminal, in front of everyone.

That was too great a shock for the public.

It was like how in Sun Wu Ming's previous life, the Chinese table tennis team could lose to Germany or Sweden, but could never accept losing to Japan or Korea.

And Lance clearly hadn't expected that his proudest partner who had been with him since childhood, his ace Dragonite.

Would lose so completely.

Though Lance didn't shout out "damn" at this moment, without doubt, his pride had taken a heavy blow.

And since many ordinary citizens had witnessed this battle.

Without question, it would deal a devastating blow to Lance's reputation.

"Die, Lance!"

The enraged Giovanni waved his hand.

Without the protection of his ace Dragonite, Beedrill flew straight toward the Dragon Master.

Clearly intending to take his head.