"Because of the recent breakdown in business dealings and Lance's strict investigations, the private interests ties between Team Rocket and the League's upper echelons have already collapsed."
"Now Lance is mobilizing League personnel to rush to Viridian City. It's obvious he has already discovered the truth—that Viridian Gym is Team Rocket's hidden base."
"What an ungrateful fool. What a pity for such a perfect base."
After a brief calculation of interests, Giovanni decided to abandon Viridian Gym and turned to instruct Damon to arrange for their subordinates to prepare for evacuation.
"Yes, Giovanni-sama!"
After speaking, Damon turned and left, notifying the Team Rocket members hidden within Viridian Gym to be ready to withdraw at any time.
Although it was somewhat regrettable, Giovanni had not fallen to the point where he had to cling to Viridian Gym as a base.
After all, Team Rocket had already amassed enough capital to invade various regions, so there was no need to continue maintaining the facade of being Viridian City's Gym Leader.
Moreover, Team Rocket had also infiltrated the upper ranks of the Kanto Region League, so Giovanni was not worried that losing Viridian Gym as a hidden base would result in any suppression of their interests.
After all, interests was not something easily abandoned.
With that thought, a hidden passage slowly revealed itself before Giovanni. He then threw out the Poké Ball in his hand.
As the white light faded, a Dugtrio with three heads appeared before Giovanni.
"Sorry to trouble you, Dugtrio. Let those who dare to cause trouble at Viridian Gym experience your strength!"
...
Meanwhile, on Red's side
A sudden explosion sounded from behind Red. It was Lance arriving on Dragonite, his overwhelmingly imposing entrance astonishing Red and the many Pokémon around him.
Immediately afterward, numerous League members wearing uniforms marked with the letter "P" appeared, surrounding Viridian Gym entirely, intending to wipe out all Team Rocket members hidden inside.
"Are you hurt, Red?" Lance asked with concern.
At first, seeing Red's exhausted expression and the injuries on the many Pokémon beside him, Lance thought Giovanni had attacked Red ruthlessly.
"It's fine, Lance. Just now, I only had a very 'formal' battle with Giovanni. I didn't suffer any real harm," Red said calmly.
After hearing Red's brief explanation, Lance understood the general situation.
However, Red deliberately obscured the existence of Mewtwo, not wanting it to be overly exposed. He only roughly explained that Team Rocket possessed a powerful artificial legendary Pokémon.
Although Red guessed that Lance already knew of Mewtwo's existence, he likely didn't know the details yet.
"I see. No wonder Team Rocket mobilized forces to hijack Silph Co. that time. So this was the sinister plan they had all along!"
At this point, Lance couldn't help but reveal a look of disappointment toward the League's upper ranks.
Seeing Red's slightly puzzled gaze, Lance did not hide the "truth."
"What I didn't expect is that Giovanni, the strongest Gym Leader in the Kanto Region, is actually the mastermind behind Team Rocket. I never imagined that the enemy the League has been fighting all along was hidden in the most obvious place—Viridian City!"
After saying this, Lance secretly glanced at Red's expression, trying to gauge his current feelings.
If Red showed disappointment or anger, Lance could understand—after all, it would feel like being betrayed by the Pokémon League he regarded as a belief.
Anyone not completely dense could hear the implication in Lance's words: Giovanni's true identity had long been exposed to the League's upper ranks, but for their reasons, they chose not to expose it.
And the creation of an uncontrollable existence like Mewtwo indirectly demonstrated Team Rocket's stance—to devour the Pokémon League.
For the sake of protecting their own power, the League's upper ranks no longer concealed Giovanni's identity. Instead, they ordered Lance to rush to Viridian City and capture Giovanni before he could leave.
Unfortunately, these were merely the League's fantasies. If Giovanni didn't have the strength to suppress Mewtwo, perhaps Mewtwo would have already destroyed Team Rocket first, rather than obediently remaining under their control.
At the beginning, Mewtwo had simply been too naive and believed Giovanni's lies.
After awakening in the laboratory on the isolated island and realizing it was nothing more than an experimental product, the grief drove Mewtwo into a rampage, destroying the entire facility in agony.
Before it could even ponder the meaning of its existence, Giovanni appeared before it.
Using the excuse of helping Mewtwo control its power, Giovanni made Mewtwo serve him, and through Mewtwo's immense psychic power, Team Rocket captured many high-quality Pokémon.
Through constant training, Mewtwo eventually realized it had merely been used by Giovanni—a tool for Team Rocket to capture Pokémon.
Fortunately, Mewtwo was awakened during this battle with Red. Otherwise, after destroying the restraining armor, it might have caused an unnecessary riot.
For example—a true "Mewtwo Strikes Back."
"I see."
Red nodded as if half-understanding, pretending to only now realize Giovanni's true identity, showing a look of surprise.
Seeing that Red did not show disappointment, Lance secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After all, he placed great hopes on Red and expected him to become a pillar of the Pokémon League in the future.
If such a rare pillar became disappointed in the League now, Lance could only imagine who would defend its honor when his own strength declined in the future.
"Brother/Red, are you okay?!" x2
At this moment, Ash and Gary emerged from among the League members and hurried to Red's side, worried about his safety.
Seeing the exhausted state of Red's original team, Gary once again realized the terrifying strength of Mewtwo.
"So that mysterious Pokémon that left was really that powerful," Ash said worriedly, seeing the fatigue on Red's face.
"Don't worry, I'm not dying anytime soon," Red joked, telling Ash and Gary not to worry too much.
Just when everyone thought the incident was over, they suddenly noticed the ground ahead turning into quicksand. Many League members standing there were dragged into it, letting out miserable screams.
Under Lance's cautious gaze, Dugtrio's figure emerged from the quicksand, looking up at Dragonite in the sky with disdain.
"Is that the Arena Trap Ability?!" Red exclaimed in shock.
(Arena Trap Ability: Prevents all grounded non-Ghost-type Pokémon on the opponent's side from escaping, switching, or fleeing.)