"Stop for a second."
As they walked, Gu Yuan's helpless voice rang out.
Hearing this, Ash's trio immediately halted. The experienced Pikachu even began to scan the surroundings carefully.
"Alakazam."
Following Gu Yuan's call, the Alakazam behind him gently shook its spoon, causing the camouflage over a trap to vanish instantly.
They had encountered this situation many times along the way, which was why Ash's group was so compliant.
"Send them away, Alakazam. Remember to send them a bit further this time."
"No! Not again!"
Just as Gu Yuan spoke, three panicked voices cried out in unison.
Immediately after, Jessie, James, and Meowth were seen immobilized under the control of Alakazam's psychic power.
"Bye-bye!" X3
Looking at the Team Rocket trio, Ash and his friends couldn't have been happier.
Although Team Rocket served as a recurring source of experience points, being pestered by them for too long inevitably became tiresome.
This was where Gu Yuan's importance shone through.
Ever since Gu Yuan joined the group, they no longer fell into the enemy's traps, nor did they have to listen to the trio's stale introductory slogans. Ash and the others were thrilled.
"Let's go, keep moving."
Gu Yuan stretched and led Ash's group forward.
Currently, Ash was only missing the Earth Badge from the Viridian Gym.
Coincidentally, Gu Yuan was free during this period, so he decided to head to Viridian City with Ash.
Calculating the time, Gary should also be arriving at Viridian City around now.
Following the timeline, Gary would defeat two of Giovanni's Pokémon in quick succession, only to suffer a crushing defeat at the hands of Mewtwo.
On the surface, the story seemed logical, but there was actually a major flaw.
With Giovanni's actual strength, he could easily crush the current Gary even without relying on Mewtwo's power.
Furthermore, when Giovanni eventually left to pursue Mewtwo and left the Viridian Gym in the hands of the Team Rocket trio, he was practically shouting to the League that something was wrong.
The most plausible explanation was that the League already knew Giovanni's identity, or at least suspected the connection between the Viridian Gym and Team Rocket.
However, the League either wasn't ready to strike yet or wanted to use him as bait to catch bigger fish.
Conversely, Giovanni was likely aware of the League's schemes, which explained his lack of restraint.
Gu Yuan wanted to see for himself just how powerful Mewtwo truly was.
Secondly, he wanted to investigate what was really going on with the Viridian Gym.
At the same time, Gu Yuan noticed that traveling with Ash meant they rarely encountered powerful Pokémon on their chosen paths.
In that sense, besides his protagonist aura, the Team Rocket trio deserved some credit for Ash reaching his current level of strength.
"I understand. Since you are already here, come to Viridian City first. I have a mission for you."
"Yes, sir!" X3
After receiving the trio's reply, Giovanni hung up the phone.
"This is great! Not only did the Boss not punish us, but he's also entrusting us with a heavy responsibility."
"This time, no matter what, we cannot let the Boss down!"
"Exactly! Exactly!"
While the Team Rocket trio was busy convincing themselves of their importance, Giovanni began to ponder.
Clearly, Gu Yuan's sudden appearance was not part of his plan.
"It doesn't matter. I'll take this opportunity to let him witness the great achievements of Team Rocket!"
After a while, Giovanni stopped overthinking Gu Yuan's motives.
Evidently, after witnessing Mewtwo's power, Giovanni's confidence had inflated, making him somewhat arrogant.
Following the progression of the timeline, the events of the original story unfolded one by one.
When Gu Yuan's party arrived at the Viridian Gym, they saw that Gary was already prepared for his challenge.
"Big Brother Gu Yuan!?"
"What are you doing here?"
Unlike the clueless Ash, Gary was well aware of Gu Yuan's achievements and his terrifying strength.
Therefore, Gary was curious as to why Gu Yuan would come to Viridian City with Ash.
"Long time no see, Gary. I've been resting lately, so I decided to travel with Ash for a while."
"Besides, you usually have so many people around you, I was afraid I wouldn't fit in."
As he spoke, Gu Yuan glanced at the group of cheerleaders behind Gary.
Meanwhile, Brock, who looked completely lovestruck, was already being dragged away by Misty.
"Oh, come on, they're just my friends."
Hearing this, Gary actually looked a bit embarrassed and didn't have time to wonder why Gu Yuan hadn't looked him up first.
"By the way, Big Brother Gu Yuan, I'm going to challenge the Viridian Gym now. Let's talk after we come out."
"No problem. Good luck."
Looking at the overconfident Gary, Gu Yuan, who already knew the outcome, could only give him a look that said it all.
"Don't worry. Ash and I aren't even on the same level."
"What did you say?"
Failing to understand Gu Yuan's look, Gary immediately turned around to argue with Ash.
Strictly speaking, based on Gary's current performance, he was indeed much stronger than Ash.
But unfortunately for him, Gary wasn't the protagonist.
Ultimately, during the Silver Conference in the Johto region, Gary's head-to-head confrontation with Ash would end in Gary's defeat.
After arguing for a bit, Gary walked into the Viridian Gym with full confidence.
Although the interior was hidden from view, Gu Yuan knew Mewtwo had entered the fray the moment an undetectable Pokémon appeared on his System's scanning function.
After a long time, the doors of the Viridian Gym slowly opened, and Gary walked out, still reeling from the shock.
"Ash, you must be careful. The opponent has a mysterious Pokémon I've never seen before. It's incredibly strong!"
Seeing Ash, Gary immediately spoke with a grave expression.
"Yeah, I got it."
Seeing Gary so serious, Ash also became uncharacteristically solemn.
Just as Ash was about to enter the Viridian Gym, a sudden explosion interrupted him.
In the next second, a dark shadow rushed out, leaving a massive hole in the Viridian Gym.
"I'll go see what's happening!"
After a moment's hesitation, Gu Yuan decided to give chase.
The moment he finished speaking, Alakazam used Teleport to vanish with Gu Yuan.
"Alakazam, Mega Evolve!"
Seeing that Mewtwo was about to disappear, Gu Yuan immediately had Alakazam undergo Mega Evolution.
Despite this, Gu Yuan still found it difficult to keep up with Mewtwo's speed.
"Stop, Mega Alakazam."
Seeing the distance between them grow further and further, Gu Yuan chose to give up.
If he continued the chase, putting aside whether he could catch up, he had no confidence in confronting Mewtwo if he accidentally enraged it.
"Let's go back."
Having Alakazam revert from its Mega Evolution, Gu Yuan returned the way he came.
Meanwhile, Giovanni handed the Viridian Gym over to the Team Rocket trio while he pursued Mewtwo.
Later, after repeated failures to capture it, Giovanni eventually came to his senses and stopped trying to manufacture legends, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.