At this moment, when Lance saw the three Legendary Birds suddenly appear before him—Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno—his expression changed drastically.
He was powerful.
Possessing Master-tier combat strength.
Against one Legendary Bird, he was confident he could eventually defeat it.
Against two?
Even Lance wasn't certain of victory.
But now—
There were three.
The reason Legendary Pokémon were called Legendary Pokémon was because of their terrifying stamina and recovery abilities.
Even among Master-tier combatants, Legendary Pokémon were generally stronger than ordinary Pokémon.
Lance's ace Dragonite, as a pseudo-Legendary, might be able to defeat one of them.
But what about the remaining two?
Who was supposed to handle them?
And beyond the three Legendary Birds—
The Three Beasts themselves were no weaklings.
Even if each only carried six Pokémon, that was still eighteen additional Pokémon.
No matter how strong Lance was, he couldn't fight so many opponents alone.
"Dragonite!"
"Use Dragon Pulse!"
"Articuno, charge in!"
"Use Ice Beam on Dragonite!"
"Moltres, Flamethrower!"
"Zapdos, Thunderbolt!"
Under the commands of the Three Beasts, the three cloned Legendary Birds launched their attacks simultaneously.
Instantly, the Pokémon League forces found themselves in trouble.
Dragonite's Dragon Pulse collided head-on with Articuno's Ice Beam.
A massive explosion erupted.
For the moment, neither side could gain the advantage.
However—
Zapdos's wide-area electric attacks were devastating.
The several pseudo-Elite Four-level Trainers accompanying Lance had no way to resist.
After a barrage of lightning strikes, their Pokémon lost their ability to battle one after another.
Left with no choice, Lance threw out two more Poké Balls.
Red light flashed.
A red Gyarados.
And a Charizard.
Both appeared on the battlefield.
"Charizard!"
"Use Fire Blast on Articuno!"
"Gyarados!"
"Use Hydro Pump on Moltres!"
"Dragonite!"
"Use Dragon Breath on Zapdos!"
After summoning three Pokémon, Lance finally stabilized the battlefield somewhat.
Meanwhile, the Three Beasts showed no signs of concern.
Their goal had never been to defeat Lance immediately.
Instead—
They intended to exhaust him.
Drain his Pokémon.
Wear down his strength.
And afterward—
Their boss, Giovanni, would personally step onto the battlefield.
By then—
Lance's expression would undoubtedly be priceless.
"Moltres, Air Slash!"
"Zapdos, use Thunder!"
"Articuno, Water Pulse!"
As the battle intensified, war erupted across the entire area.
League forces and Team Rocket members clashed violently.
This was no ordinary operation anymore.
This was war.
And war inevitably produced casualties.
Especially against an organization like Team Rocket.
Their members had no hesitation about directly targeting Trainers.
Fortunately, the League's elite forces weren't naive enough to hold back either.
They retaliated in kind.
Even so—
Casualties rapidly mounted on both sides.
The same had happened during the operations led by Lorelei, Bruno, Sabrina, and the others.
Only Aiden's battlefield had been different.
He had personally crushed Team Rocket's forces alone.
Because of that, Misty, Daisy, Violet, and the Cerulean City officers had suffered almost no losses.
…
Meanwhile—
At Mt. Silver.
After changing into a fresh set of clothes, Lorelei had finally allowed her Pokémon to rest.
At present, neither Lorelei nor Bruno retained much combat power.
Only Sabrina remained in relatively good condition after eliminating Lance.
Her mood seemed noticeably brighter.
"What should we do now?"
"Should we continue attacking Team Rocket's remaining bases?"
Hearing Sabrina's question, Lorelei shook her head.
"Although the League achieved several victories, both Bruno and I encountered serious resistance."
"Team Rocket now possesses cloned Legendary Birds."
"We still don't know how many exist, but they represent a major threat."
"At the very least, future operations would require two Elite Four-level Trainers acting together just to counter one cloned Legendary Bird."
"Right now, the advantage belongs to Team Rocket."
"We can't act recklessly."
Bruno nodded.
"That's right."
"But Lance still hasn't sent any updates."
"He went directly to Team Rocket's headquarters."
"I'm worried…"
Everyone immediately fell silent.
Then Aiden smiled.
"Don't worry."
"If necessary, I'll make another trip myself."
"With the Psychic markers in place, I can instantly reach Viridian City."
"The fact that Lance hasn't requested help yet means he still believes he can handle things."
"Besides…"
"This operation was already a massive success."
"We destroyed numerous Team Rocket bases."
"We forced them underground."
"We exposed Koga, Will, Lt. Surge, and Karen."
"Sabrina has fully recovered."
"And we eliminated Lance, Lambda, and Apollo."
"From any perspective, this is a major victory."
"How many executives can Team Rocket afford to lose?"
After hearing those words, Lorelei, Bruno, Sabrina, and Volkner all smiled.
That was true.
No matter how powerful Team Rocket was—
There couldn't be an endless supply of executives.
…
At that very moment—
Viridian City.
Giovanni finally appeared.
The leader who had ruled Team Rocket for decades.
The man whose strength had only continued growing over the years.
A playful smile appeared on his face as he looked at Lance.
"Lance."
"It's been a long time."
Years ago—
Before becoming Champion—
Lance had worked as an international investigator.
During one infiltration mission, he had encountered Giovanni.
At that time, Lance's strength had been far inferior to what it was now.
In fact—
Giovanni's ace Beedrill had nearly killed him.
Now, meeting his old enemy again, Lance's eyes burned with anger.
"Giovanni!"
"Team Rocket has committed countless crimes."
"The Pokémon League will destroy your organization."
"You're trying to create artificial Pokémon using science and technology."
"That dream is doomed to fail!"
Giovanni simply laughed.
"A defeated opponent shouldn't speak with such confidence."
"The three Legendary Birds before you are all masterpieces created by Team Rocket."
"And now…"
"I'll let you witness the greatest achievement of our technology."
"Come out."
"Mewtwo."
The moment Giovanni finished speaking—
A humanoid Pokémon clad in heavy armor suddenly appeared in front of Lance.
Mewtwo.
The instant it arrived—
An overwhelming wave of Psychic power erupted outward.
Boom!
Dragonite.
Charizard.
Gyarados.
All three Pokémon were blasted away simultaneously.
The attack struck so suddenly and with such terrifying force that the three Pokémon were nearly knocked unconscious immediately.
One attack.
Just one attack.
And Lance was already on the verge of complete defeat.
Looking at Charizard collapsed on the ground…
At Gyarados struggling desperately to stand…
At Dragonite's unwilling roar…
Lance's expression changed dramatically.
"This is bad."
"That thing is far too powerful."
"If I stay here…"
"I might not be able to escape."
Without hesitation, Lance shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Professor Oak!"
"Save me!"
…
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