The dissolution of Team Rocket began with the battle wager between Ash and Giovanni, and in truth, it was something Giovanni had brought upon himself.
When Ash first heard Giovanni's proposal, he accepted without hesitation. In his eyes, if Team Rocket disappeared, Kanto would finally become peaceful and quiet.
For that goal, Ash wagered everything on his battle with Giovanni, and in the end, he won.
At first, the results were indeed positive. After Team Rocket vanished, Kanto quickly calmed down. The sudden collapse of such a massive organization sent shockwaves through the region, making the remaining criminal groups uneasy. They feared that the League had taken decisive action and would soon come after them as well.
But later… those organizations realized what had truly happened.
And once they did, they began to establish footholds in Kanto, using Team Rocket's dissolution as their opportunity.
In the past, with Team Rocket dominating the region, it had been almost impossible for other organizations to even gain a foothold, let alone build bases across multiple Leagues the way Team Rocket had. They couldn't even properly take root in other regions.
Team Rocket had been able to do so because of its dealings with the League.
Why should other evil organizations enjoy the same privilege? Did they really think the League was powerless?
Yet now, the situation had slipped beyond the League's control.
Team Rocket's dissolution had created a vacuum, one that other organizations eagerly rushed to fill. They expanded and strengthened themselves elsewhere before turning their attention here, especially to Kanto.
Team Galactic, the one Cynthia mentioned, was merely the first Ash had heard of. They were certainly not the last to arrive, perhaps not even the first.
That Team Rocket's collapse would end up harming the entire League was something Ash had never expected.
He couldn't help recalling what the higher-ups had once said, that dissolving Team Rocket might not necessarily be a good thing. At the time, however, the arrow was already on the string; it had to be fired. He had no choice. He couldn't exactly lose on purpose.
Back then, Ash hadn't understood their meaning.
Why wouldn't defeating Giovanni and dismantling Team Rocket be a good thing? If something benefited the entire League, how could it possibly be wrong?
Now, he finally understood.
Things that looked good on the surface weren't always truly good, and sometimes, they led to even worse outcomes.
Previously, the League had at least been able to keep Team Rocket under control, or at the very least, understood them thoroughly. Although Team Rocket had gradually slipped beyond control and even created a terrifying existence like Mewtwo, there was still a degree of predictability to them compared to other organizations.
But these newly emerging groups were entirely different.
They lurked completely in the shadows.
With the enemy hidden and the League exposed, the situation was overwhelmingly unfavorable.
Everything that Lugia had suffered was merely the beginning. Countless other dangers were likely still concealed in the darkness, waiting to surface.
"I've also heard that Team Magma and Team Aqua from the Hoenn League have arrived," Cynthia continued calmly. "Along with Team Plasma from Unova and Team Flare from Kalos."
Ash and the others fell silent.
Wasn't that practically every major criminal organization from every region?
Johto, like Kanto, had once been under Team Rocket's control, which was why no other organizations had dared enter. But outside of Johto, forces from nearly every region had flooded in.
Ash didn't recognize most of the names, but the fact that Cynthia mentioned them specifically meant one thing, they were all on the same level as Team Galactic.
Seeing that Team Rocket had collapsed, they were all rushing in to seize their share of the spoils.
On one hand, they could absorb Team Rocket's remaining strength to expand their own power. On the other, this was the perfect chance to establish themselves in Kanto and Johto.
If they succeeded, those two regions would become the most chaotic areas in the entire League.
This was truly a case of good intentions leading to disastrous consequences.
Ash had once hoped Kanto and Johto would become the most peaceful regions.
Now, they were on track to become the most unstable, if those groups were allowed to take root.
"Misty… Brock…" Ash's eyes were filled with confusion. "Did I do the wrong thing?"
If he hadn't blindly accepted Giovanni's wager back then, would all this still have happened? Would it have been better if he had lost on purpose…?
"That's not it, Ash." Cynthia shook her head before Brock or Misty could respond. "Lorelei already told me everything about Team Rocket. You did the right thing."
"If not for you, the League would never have discovered Team Rocket's true ambitions. To put it bluntly, a controlled God–level threat is far more dangerous than anything these other organizations can manage."
"Don't be misled by Team Galactic claiming they want to capture the god of the sea," she added calmly. "If they truly encountered such an existence, a single breath from it would be enough to annihilate them. You don't need to worry about that."
What made Team Rocket truly terrifying wasn't just their ideology, it was their reach.
Their personnel were spread across all regions, and their research capabilities were unmatched. They could create God–level Pokémon and even develop Poké Balls capable of forcibly capturing other people's Pokémon.
If such technology had been mass-produced and distributed throughout the organization, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
From that perspective, Ash's wager with Giovanni, and Team Rocket's dissolution, was absolutely necessary.
In the long run, Team Rocket posed a greater threat than all the other organizations combined.
The real problem lay elsewhere.
The League had failed to apprehend all of Team Rocket's key high-ranking members when the organization collapsed, allowing many of them to defect and join other groups.
Still, the League couldn't be blamed too harshly.
They were severely understaffed, especially the Kanto League, which shared its Elite Four with Johto. In practical terms, they only had two top-tier combatants on constant duty: Lorelei and Agatha.
The remaining slots were occupied by Champions and Elites who served both regions.
All told, the two Leagues officially had only one Champion and five Elites. In terms of raw strength, they possessed the equivalent of four Champions and two Elites, but no matter how powerful they were, they couldn't be everywhere at once.
They could have been dispatched to hunt down Team Rocket's high-ranking members, but those individuals remained deeply hidden. By the time the League's informants located them, Lance and the others were already tied down dealing with low-level Team Rocket grunts.
By the time reinforcements could arrive, it was too late.
The League's mishandling of the aftermath had led to this disastrous situation.
If Ash's actions were considered wrong, then there would be no such thing as a truly correct action in this world.
Justice is never wrong.
If justice itself were denied, then who would still choose to do the right thing?
With Cynthia's reassurance, Ash finally recovered somewhat from the psychological blow. Still, he couldn't bring himself to believe that the current situation had nothing to do with him.
No matter what the future might have looked like had Team Rocket never been investigated, the present reality had already unfolded, and he had played a part in setting it in motion. Indirect or not, responsibility was still responsibility.
At the very least, both logically and emotionally, he had to heal Lugia.
Lugia's condition was tied to a chain of events far larger than itself. More importantly, if the god of the sea were to learn what had happened, the League might not even be given a chance to explain.
That was precisely why the League wanted to locate the god of the sea first.
Finding the god of the sea on their own terms was completely different from having him discover them after sensing Juvenile Lugia's condition. The difference between those two outcomes was immeasurable.
After discussing recent international developments, Cynthia excused herself. Because of Team Galactic's movements, there were still many matters she needed to handle in Kanto. She promised to return the next morning to assist Ash in treating Lugia.
Once Cynthia left, the faint smile on Ash's face slowly faded.
Misty noticed immediately. She reached out and gently patted his shoulder.
"Don't overthink it, Ash. Didn't Miss Cynthia already say it? If it weren't for you, things would've turned out even worse. None of this is your fault."
"The two of them are right."
Mewtwo, who had been silently listening, suddenly spoke.
"If stopping Giovanni was a mistake… then was saving me also a mistake?"
She felt slightly embarrassed as the words left her mouth, but she said them anyway. If it meant sparing Ash from needless guilt, then honesty was worth the discomfort.
Leaving aside the League, the balance of power, and the state of the world, saving her was an undeniable fact.
If she had remained under Team Rocket's control, who knew how far she might have fallen?
To put it bluntly, the influence of a single Pokémon like her could easily surpass that of all the other criminal organizations combined.
Those organizations were only just beginning to infiltrate Kanto and Johto. The League could still respond, still counter them. As long as both sides were maneuvering against each other, it was still a strategic struggle.
But if she had followed Giovanni all the way to the God level…
That wouldn't have been a struggle.
It would have been a massacre.
Without another being of equal power to oppose her, the entire Kanto region could have fallen in a very short time.
For Ash, though, that wasn't even the most important part.
What mattered most was that he had pulled her out of the abyss.
That was the Ash she had come to understand during their time together.
Hearing Mewtwo's words, Ash finally raised his head. A faint light flickered back into his eyes.
"Thank you, Mewtwo. Misty. Brock. I'm okay now," he said seriously."I'm going to think of a way to heal Lugia. I'll leave dinner to you guys."
The last part was directed at Misty and Brock. After the intense battle and the long discussion that followed, it was already close to evening without any of them realizing it.
Ash needed to focus on Lugia's recovery. Cooking would have to wait.
As for how Ash would find a solution, that was his responsibility.
If it was Ash, then he would definitely figure something out.
That was what Misty and the others believed.
Mewtwo watched as Ash and Pikachu headed into the room. Her figure gradually faded from sight.
Ash was working hard, and she had no intention of remaining idle either.
If anyone by Ash's side was most likely to locate the god of the sea, it was her.
She was heading to the Orange Islands.
Inside the room, Ash sat down on the bed, told Pikachu not to disturb him, and closed his eyes.
Pikachu tilted his head, clearly puzzled as to why Ash needed to think with his eyes shut. Still, he didn't ask. Instead, he quietly curled up beside Ash, closed his own eyes, and soon began to doze.
Ash, meanwhile, naturally entered the Chat Group.
Come to think of it, ever since the Indigo Plateau Conference began, he had been entering the Chat Group less and less.
On one hand, it was because he was growing stronger. He couldn't rely on the big shots in the group forever. He had already begun walking his own path.
All that remained was to fully digest and integrate what those big shots had taught him.
Once he did, he would become a complete Ash, one who carried the combined potential of countless Ashes from parallel worlds.
But today's battle had reminded him of one thing.
He was still far from being a true top-tier Trainer.
There was still much he needed to learn.
Of course, he hadn't entered the Chat Group just to reflect on his shortcomings.
This time, it was because of Lugia.
He posted Lugia's condition, along with the full sequence of events, into the group.
Champion Ash: I didn't expect things to develop this way after Team Rocket's dissolution, but in truth, it was predictable. Where there is light, there will always be darkness. Even if Team Rocket disappeared, other organizations were bound to rise. We already warned you about this before. Your decision to crush Team Rocket was not wrong, there's no need to dwell on it.
Newbie Ash: Thank you for the reassurance. Mewtwo and Misty have already helped me work through it. What I'm concerned about now is Lugia. Has anyone encountered a situation like this before?
Champion Ash: Oh? That unsociable Mewtwo actually knows how to comfort people? That's rare. It seems the bond between you and her has truly been established. As for Lugia… that person should know something. @Legendary Ash
Legendary Ash: Hi hi~ I've looked over the situation. It's actually not that serious. The problem is that Lugia still has psychic-type power lingering inside its body, and dark-type energy is the natural nemesis of psychic-type energy. All you need to do is completely remove the psychic-type power from its body. Once that's done, its life won't be in danger anymore.
Legendary Ash.
It was a title Ash had never seen before. Since joining the Chat Group, this was the first time he had seen this person speak.
But the fact that Champion Ash personally tagged him was enough.
Among everyone in the group, Ash trusted Champion Ash the most.And anyone introduced by him was almost certainly reliable.
More importantly, the solution didn't sound complicated.
If removing the Psychic attribute would save Lugia, then once his own strength fully recovered, accomplishing that would be simple.
Legendary Ash: However…