The Deerling seemed to be terrified of humans. Considering what had just happened, it wasn't hard to guess why...
Caleb sighed softly as he picked up the Deerling, intending to heal it with his Viridian Power.
The vibrant green energy of life continuously flowed into the Deerling's body. One minute passed... two minutes... three minutes... Yet its injuries showed no signs of improvement.
"Wuu..."
Dragonite, Mimikyu and Lucario standing nearby all wore sorrowful expressions.
The Viridian Power could heal, but it couldn't resurrect the dead.
Caleb fell silent, his gaze sweeping over this adorable pink fawn with two tender yellow flowers blooming on its head. Its eyes were tightly shut, its face still frozen in an expression of despair and pain.
The bullet had entered through its left abdomen and exited from the right side, warm blood continuously flowing from the wounds.
Caleb felt a pang of sadness. He stood up and gently placed the Deerling's body on a patch of soft grass bathed in sunlight, then walked toward the next injured Pokémon.
He passed through the corpses of several Breloom and Meganium. The already dead Pokémon lay motionless on the ground, while those still clinging to life would instinctively try to flee in the opposite direction when they saw humans approaching.
Those futuristic firearms were far too destructive. They easily pierced straight through their bodies. Thus before they could crawl more than a few steps, they would collapse weakly to the ground, closing their eyes forever.
Faced with this situation, even the Viridian Power was helpless. Unless Ho-Oh descended, no one could save these Pokémon.
Caleb wasn't a god. He was just an ordinary trainer who loved Pokémon and wanted to live peacefully alongside them.
One human and three Pokémon stood silently amidst the corpses of wild Pokémon...
Just then, an airship emblazoned with the R insignia came flying over from the sky.
Caleb's expression changed as he immediately ordered Dragonite, "Hyper Beam!"
"Wuu!"
Dragonite nodded resolutely, then flapped its wings as it soared into the air. A thick white energy beam shot from its mouth, instantly reaching the airship.
The next moment, a tremendous explosion erupted in the sky.
Dazzling flames shot into the air as the airship was instantly transformed into a massive fireball, plummeting straight down onto the grassland.
There were no survivors.
Caleb watched this scene with an impassive expression. Only when the flames had died out, leaving only the wreckage of the airship behind, did he finally look away.
For the rest of that day, he went nowhere else.
Together with Dragonite, Mimikyu and Lucario, he remained in this hunting zone, digging pit after pit to bury the Pokémon who had lost their lives...
....
Team Rocket only learned of this incident the next day...
The first to know was Giovanni, who had extended his lifespan using 'Immortality' technology and survived to the present day.
He had originally been preparing to convene a high-level meeting, but when the time came, not a single one of the twenty-some executives showed up.
Giovanni's face darkened as he immediately ordered his secretary, Matori, to track them down. But instead of finding them, she reported that all twenty-plus members had simultaneously lost contact.
Giovanni asked, "Where are they?"
Matori calmly replied, "According to their schedules, they went to Paradise together yesterday. After that, we never received any further updates from them."
Paradise...
Giovanni was familiar with it. It was a place he had personally created where humans could relax by hunting Pokémon.
Since the admission tickets were extremely expensive, everyone who went there was either wealthy or influential.
Just then, Matori received a new message. As she checked her smart bracelet, she added, "Oh, correction... around 10:52 AM yesterday, the police received a report from Executive Gao of the council."
"They're dead?" Giovanni asked.
Matori shook her head, "Unknown. The officers dispatched to Paradise also went missing. This is the last image captured by the flight recorder..." As she spoke, she pulled up a photo.
The photo showed a green Dragonite in the midst of using Hyper Beam.
Giovanni frowned, "Who released this Dragonite into Paradise?"
Matori shook her head, "No records found. But according to Paradise staff, they don't recognize this Dragonite. It seemed to have appeared out of nowhere in Paradise."
Giovanni fell into thought before saying, "First, send Archer to investigate. Also, appease their families."
"Understood!" Matori nodded before turning to carry out her tasks.
....
By the time Archer arrived at Paradise, Caleb had already returned to Rocket City...
...
The moment Caleb entered the city, he saw swarms of small surveillance drones resembling remote-controlled airplanes flying through the sky.
Two fellow travelers entering the city beside him were chatting:
"Oh ho, a city-wide manhunt? Haven't seen one of those in ages! I think the last one was two years ago, right?"
His companion nodded, "Exactly! And it was for some big-chested, big-hipped woman too. I don't know how those Rocket Task Force guys could bring themselves to do it!"
"What happened?"
"You didn't see? The woman got shot in the head, her body cut in half at the waist... Her brains and intestines spilled everywhere! Tsk tsk, what a waste of such a fine figure!"
Caleb listened silently, pressing his lips together. Just as he was about to leave, he saw a drone flying straight toward him.
It was a silver metal sphere with a helicopter rotor on top like Doraemon's bamboo-copter. Its single eye was flashing an ominous red light as it rapidly approached him.
The two passersby beside him stared wide-eyed at this scene, exclaiming in shock:
"Crap!"
*Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!*
The metal sphere emitted a sharp alarm.
The other drones not far away in the sky immediately received the alert and swiftly flew over.
Caleb's gaze sharpened as he swiftly took out Dragonite's Poké Ball, mounted it, and ordered, "Thunderbolt!"
"Wuu!"
Dragonite opened its mouth wide as crackling yellow electricity condensed into a large net that rapidly expanded outward from its center.
The red eyes of the metal spheres were struck by the intense electric current, immediately turning into large X's before smoking and crashing uncontrollably to the ground.
Caleb was furious.
He opened his inventory and applied the 'Special Attack Boost (Lv.6)' buff to Dragonite, then immediately had it fly toward the most prominent Rocket Tower at the city center.
He had done this because yesterday, he had found Team Rocket employee badges on the hunters' bodies.
He closed his eyes, the image of the Deerling's dying expression surfacing in his mind.
They arrived...
Caleb fixed his gaze on Rocket Tower while gripping the Escape Rope in his pocket with his right hand, ready to leave this place at any moment.
"Dragonite, use Draco Meteor at maximum power!"
"Wuu!" Dragonite responded.
Purple draconic energy swirled around its body. The entire sky instantly turned a fiery apocalyptic red.
This scene quickly drew the attention of people on the ground.
Murmurs spread through the crowd:
"Sh*t! Who is that? What's he doing?"
"I recognize that move! That's Draco Meteor!"
"He's using Draco Meteor on Rocket Tower? Is he insane?"
At this critical moment, the surrounding space suddenly froze.
The purple meteors falling from the sky seemed to pause mid-air as if time had stopped.
A humanoid figure clad in steel armor materialized out of thin air. A faint blue glow radiated from its body.
In the next instant, the suspended meteors directly dissipated into nothingness.
The sky instantly returned to normal.
Caleb locked eyes with the armored figure in the distance. Even though its entire body was encased in steel armor, he recognized its identity at a glance.
Mewtwo...
Armored Mewtwo...
Team Rocket's Ultimate Weapon...
Kanto's Strongest Pokémon!