Although Ashtwo had now grown to the designated age and had already left the incubation chamber, allowing him to live and learn like a normal child...
The problem caused by the excessive growth hormones injected into his body had still not been resolved.
His cells continued to develop and age at an abnormally accelerated rate, and only Ash's healing psychic power could reverse the damage over an extended period of treatment.
At present, only two options lay before them.
The first was to negotiate with Ash and offer him a suitable deal.
The second was to train Ashtwo relentlessly, hoping to awaken the dormant Viridian Power within him—or perhaps unlock the healing aspect of his hidden Aura Power.
Although the first solution would solve Ashtwo's accelerated aging almost immediately, Giovanni was far more inclined toward the second.
Training.
Negotiating with Ash wasn't something Giovanni was unwilling to do, nor did he mind paying whatever price Ash demanded.
However...
He had no intention of revealing Ashtwo's existence just yet.
Especially not allowing Ash to discover that Team Rocket had secretly cloned him.
Giovanni wanted to save that particular "surprise" until much later.
By now, he held extraordinarily high expectations for Ashtwo.
He no longer viewed the clone merely as a biological weapon.
Instead...
He intended to raise him as Team Rocket's future leader—
The successor who would one day inherit everything.
Whether it was to awaken his healing abilities and cure his own illness...
Or to prepare him for an even greater future...
Rigorous training was absolutely essential.
"Yes, Master."
Inside the New Island Laboratory, the six-year-old boy who looked exactly like Ash obediently nodded.
Then he gently overlapped his hands and stretched them forward.
Under the expectant gazes of Giovanni and Professor Fuji, he began treating the Sandshrew lying on the operating table, whose belly had been cut open by a scalpel.
Soft blue light shimmered from the boy's pale hands.
Unlike Ash's emerald-green healing energy...
Ashtwo's psychic power glowed with a faint azure radiance.
Although the color was completely different, Giovanni and Fuji silently comforted themselves.
Perhaps this was simply because the original and the clone were different individuals.
Even if they possessed the same psychic power, slight variations in appearance would be perfectly normal.
Maybe...
Once Ashtwo trained harder...
The healing aspect of his psychic ability would naturally awaken.
When that happened...
His powers would become no different from Ash's.
Giovanni thought hopefully.
…
Professor Fuji: "..."
Giovanni: "..."
Both men watched intently.
The pale blue psychic light bathed Sandshrew's body.
The injured Pokémon, which had been writhing in pain moments earlier...
Didn't have its wound healed.
The cut across its stomach remained exactly as before.
Yet...
Its expression gradually relaxed.
The pain faded from its face.
Its spirit calmed.
Its heart seemed soothed.
After carefully observing the results...
Giovanni and Professor Fuji exchanged helpless glances.
Neither knew whether to laugh or cry.
"Master?"
After completing the "treatment," the innocent boy looked up at Giovanni expectantly, clearly hoping to receive praise.
Having only recently awakened and left the incubation chamber, Ashtwo's mind was still childlike and pure.
Since Giovanni had already placed enormous expectations upon him...
He showed exceptional patience.
"Very good."
"You're doing well."
"But keep working hard."
Giovanni smiled warmly, taking every opportunity to build goodwill and strengthen the bond between himself and his disciple.
"Mhm!"
Ashtwo had no idea what Giovanni was really thinking.
Hearing the praise, he happily nodded before throwing himself back into training his psychic abilities.
...
"Ash from Pallet Town!"
"Prepare yourself!"
"Yaaah!!"
After lunch and a brief rest, Ash mounted his bicycle as usual and headed toward Viridian City with his Pokémon.
He had barely left Pallet Town and entered the road cutting through Viridian Forest...
When—
A chubby, dark-skinned boy who had clearly been hiding in the bushes for quite some time suddenly leapt out.
He wore armor styled after an ancient samurai, complete with a helmet, while gripping a rubber practice katana in both hands.
"Samurai..."
"You really have nothing better to do, do you?"
"Why are you waiting here to block my way every single day?"
Seeing the little chubby boy spring from the bushes...
Not only Ash...
But Pikachu, Greninja, Pidgeot, Fearow, Valor, Lumina, and the others all wore expressions that mixed helplessness with speechless resignation.
The boy's name...
Was exactly what his appearance suggested.
Samurai.
Despite his rather amusing appearance, he was actually an original character from the Pokémon anime.
In the original series...
This dark-skinned, chubby boy had been the very first Trainer Ash encountered after beginning his journey.
Or rather...
The first roadside "experience-point NPC."
Back then, the original Ash and Samurai had each sent out a Metapod.
Both Pokémon repeatedly used Harden, and the battle dragged on from noon until sunset without either side gaining the upper hand.
Ash had crossed paths with Samurai this time...
Samurai happened to be training both his Pokémon and his swordsmanship there as well.
As one of Kanto's most famous young celebrity Trainers...
There was no way Samurai wouldn't recognize him.
And because he did...
The thick-skinned, overly friendly boy immediately challenged Ash to a Pokémon battle.
After suffering one crushing defeat after another against Ash's Pikachu...
Greninja...
Pidgeot...
Fearow...
Valor...
Lumina...
And Ivysaur...
Samurai then challenged Ash to a duel of swordsmanship.
Unfortunately for him...
Even the skill he was most proud of ended in complete defeat.
At that moment...
He regarded Ash as someone almost godlike.
First...
He begged Ash to accept him as a disciple.
After Ash refused...
He insisted on becoming Ash's subordinate instead.
Rejected again...
He immediately declared that he would become Ash's lifelong rival.
Then...
He literally moved his "home" to a campsite near Pallet Town.
Ever since...
He had clung to Ash like an adhesive bandage that simply refused to come off.
Knowing that Ash traveled to Viridian City every afternoon at roughly the same time...
Samurai would finish lunch early...
Rush to this roadside...
And wait specifically to challenge him.
This routine had continued for over half a year.
Ash defeated him time after time...
Yet Samurai remained as devoted as ever.
No matter how thoroughly Ash crushed him...
He never gave up.
To him...
Every defeat was simply another step toward becoming stronger.
Although being ambushed on the road every single day had become rather annoying...
Ash couldn't help admiring the boy's persistence.
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T/N:
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