"Who are you?"
Paul turned his head and looked at the approaching Damian.
"Damian. You can call me Damian. I just saw you training, and I thought it was quite interesting."
Damian glanced at Paul's Pokémon: a Torterra, an Electivire, and an Ursaring.
Their presence was quite powerful.
It had to be said that although Paul's training methods were a bit cruel, if a Pokémon could actually endure them, their strength would truly improve by leaps and bounds.
In the final battle between Paul and Ash at the Lily of the Valley Conference, Paul had used Pokémon he had newly trained in Sinnoh.
If Infernape hadn't gone into an explosive state, Ash might not have been a match for Paul.
Paul's talent as a trainer was truly beyond doubt.
"Your training method is very aggressive. Not all Pokémon can handle that kind of training, and it also gives people the impression that you are mistreating them."
Damian tilted his head slightly.
"This has nothing to do with you," Paul said flatly.
He recalled his Torterra and the other Pokémon.
He put his hands in his pockets and prepared to leave.
He had never cared about what outsiders thought of him.
Whether they called him cold or cruel, he didn't care.
"Everyone has their own way of raising Pokémon. I am not that narrow-minded."
"As long as it can effectively make the Pokémon stronger and the Pokémon itself doesn't refuse, then it is a suitable method."
Damian spoke slowly.
He didn't really have an opinion on Paul's training style.
After all, every trainer's philosophy was different.
You could say Paul's way was extreme, but you couldn't say his desire for power and strength was wrong.
In other words, as long as Paul's own Pokémon didn't resist it, then Paul was fine.
Perhaps some would say that in the anime, the Chimchar in Paul's hands didn't have its potential revealed, but instead reached its full potential under Ash.
But one could only say that Chimchar needed recognition, trust, and encouragement—things the Paul of that time couldn't give it.
Paul had personally seen the power of Chimchar's special Blaze ability, which was why he had caught it.
He had always wanted to force out that potential again, but his method was clearly incorrect.
However, not all Pokémon had a personality like Chimchar's, which lacked self-confidence.
There were many competitive Pokémon that needed strict training to push their potential and bodies to the limit.
Ash, on the other hand, couldn't do that.
He cared about the Pokémon too much.
"However, you really need power, don't you?"
Damian's words made Paul's footsteps pause slightly.
He did indeed want power.
He had personally witnessed his brother, Reggie, go from being full of spirit and ambition to finally giving up on being a trainer.
That scene had too much of an impact on his world, and it made him think about his own path.
So, he wanted power.
He wanted to defeat Brandon, the man who had defeated his brother!
"What are you trying to say?" Paul turned back and looked directly at Damian.
"Just training and battling those weak trainers isn't enough for you to get strong quickly and reach your goal."
Damian's lips slowly curled into a smile.
"You need a better environment and even better Pokémon."
"Are you trying to say you can help me?" Paul remained expressionless.
He was a very calm and rational person.
"Of course. As long as you have enough value, I can provide you with the things you want."
Damian's tone was very relaxed and confident.
"Opponents, the right environment, and rare Dragonite, Tyranitar, Garchomp, Metagross, Ultra Beasts, or even Suicune, Lugia, or Zapdos."
"If you have them and train them well, your strength will improve much faster, right?"
Damian believed Paul's potential was at the Champion level.
After all, in Pokémon Journeys, Paul wasn't interested in the World Coronation Series.
But for Ash's sake, he specifically trained a Gyarados, a Garchomp, and a Metagross—three Pokémon that corresponded to Lance, Cynthia, and Steven Stone.
He found Ash before the Master Class began to give him special training battles.
Even so, the final result was one win and two losses.
This showed that Paul's strength at that time was already quite formidable.
After all, Ash had already broken into the Masters Eight at that point!
Paul's eyes kept flickering.
It had to be said that he was slightly tempted.
Damian was right.
In this world, rare Pokémon resources were very scarce, especially rare Pokémon with guaranteed talent.
You couldn't say there were no differences between individual Pseudo-Legendaries.
Even for a Pseudo-Legendary, if its talent and potential were average, Paul felt it wasn't worth training.
"What do you want?" Paul understood that there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
If you wanted to get something, even if it seemed free on the surface, a price had already been set in the shadows.
"Join my organization and contribute your strength to it."
"What organization?" Paul frowned.
He was starting to doubt the truth of Damian's words.
"You can pick one from here. Oh, same for you, Platinum. I was originally going to let you pick once we got to the villa."
Damian didn't answer directly.
Instead, he took a tablet from his backpack and opened a page.
Paul took a look, and his eyes couldn't help but narrow slightly.
Platinum also moved her gaze over.
She was also very interested in the list of Pokémon Damian was offering.
"There are ten types of Ultra Beasts in total."
"They are all creatures with a base strength no weaker than Pseudo-Legendaries, and they have excellent talent and potential."
Damian introduced them to Paul with a smile.
There were indeed ten types; Poipole and Naganadel were counted as the same type.
Paul's expression shifted slightly.
His gaze constantly moved over the pictures of these Ultra Beasts.
Although these Ultra Beasts looked strange and came in all shapes and sizes, Paul didn't care about a Pokémon's appearance.
As long as they were strong enough, it was fine.
"What exactly is your organization?" Paul didn't act impulsively.
Although these Pokémon attracted him, he was a man of principle.
"Team Rocket." Damian didn't change the subject this time.
"The organization from Kanto, Team Rocket?"
"Exactly."
"..."
Paul fell silent.
He looked at Damian with a wary and strange expression.
He had been to Kanto with his brother, so he had naturally heard of Team Rocket's reputation.
And just now, this person said his organization?
Team Rocket was his organization?
If he didn't know that turning around and leaving might be unsafe, Paul would have already wanted to take out his phone and call the police.
Team Rocket was walking around the city in broad daylight and even trying to recruit him—was the police station here in Jubilife City completely useless?
Paul was shocked.
"Don't look at me like that. Although it is indeed Team Rocket, I 'took out' the original leader a while ago and took the position myself."
Damian waved his hand.
Even Paul knew that Team Rocket was an organization you had to be careful around.
It had to be said that Team Rocket's reputation was truly widespread.
"?" Paul gave him a look of confusion.
Platinum was also stunned.
What did he mean by "I took out the original leader and took the position myself"?
Wait, you're just going to say something like that out loud?
"The current Team Rocket is no longer the Team Rocket of the past."
"Our organization doesn't do things like robbery."
"We are a legitimate business."
Damian spoke leisurely.
"If you don't believe me, you can sign a contract with me."
"I won't force you to do things like steal other people's Pokémon."
"How about it?"
Damian felt that trying to change Team Rocket's reputation was a very long and difficult task.
However, it didn't matter.
Developing a new Team Rocket while carrying the bad reputation of the old one was a kind of fun in itself.
Platinum remained silent.
"Sign a contract?" Paul felt that he was truly learning new things today.
An organization that had such a reputation was actually talking to him about signing a contract?
"Exactly. How about it?" Damian felt he was being very sincere.
He had always believed he was someone who valued talent.
If this were ancient times, the famous stories of patiently recruiting talent would definitely be about him.
"..." Paul was hesitating now.
Originally, he was completely unprepared to join.
Although his training was strict because of his philosophy, he was actually a person who was cold on the outside but warm on the inside, and his nature wasn't bad.
He really couldn't bring himself to join Team Rocket.
But if the current Team Rocket was really as Damian said, then it wasn't impossible.
However, he couldn't be sure if Damian was telling the truth.
After all, Damian was the leader of Team Rocket.
Who knew if he was lying?
As for a contract, would such a thing really have any power over Team Rocket?
Paul was skeptical about this.
"I want to see the Pokémon first. Also, I will not participate in any illegal activities."
Paul thought for a long time before he finally looked up, staring directly at Damian and speaking in a heavy voice.
"That doesn't conflict with what I said."
"After all, you said it yourself—Team Rocket is now a legitimate business, right?"
"Of course."
"Not only do we do legitimate business, but we have also been working hard to strike down teams like Team Galactic and the Pokémon Hunters."
Damian agreed with a smile.
Again, the goal was to get the person into the organization first before worrying about other things.
Of course, during this time, he indeed wouldn't let Paul or Platinum do "bad things."
But what if they were attacked by the Sinnoh League while they were dealing with Team Galactic and the Pokémon Hunters?
To be honest, Damian missed the times in Alola and Hoenn.
Back then, the League would actively come to attack them.
That was the perfect opportunity to "paint" Platinum and the others in a more negative light.
We are clearly dealing with a villain team problem.
Why is the League attacking us?
What did we do wrong?
Just because we are wearing Team Rocket clothes, are we "evil"?
Do we have to be on a wanted list?
Tsk—look at that.
How great is that?
Unfortunately, as Damian's strength grew, the League didn't really dare to look for trouble with him anymore.
"Then follow me first."
Damian and the others arrived at the purchased villa.
This villa wasn't small, and there was a training field in the backyard.
"Now, you two take a look. Which one do you want?"
There was a transport machine in the villa, which was very convenient.
"The abilities of Ultra Beasts are all the same: Beast Boost."
"So you just need to choose based on their types and their strengths and weaknesses."
Damian gave them a reminder.
Platinum and Paul both began to consider the information on the Ultra Beasts.
"I want Buzzwole."
After a short while, Paul made his choice.
Buzzwole, with its Bug and Fighting types, just happened to make up for his weaknesses in those two types.
Although he had trained a Ninjask, he wasn't particularly satisfied with it.
"No problem. What about you, Platinum?" Damian nodded.
"I want a Pheromosa. Is that okay?"
After hesitating for a moment, Platinum also chose the Bug and Fighting type Pheromosa.
There was no other reason than the fact that Pheromosa's types were exactly what her team was lacking.
Furthermore, Pheromosa looked very elegant and hit right at Platinum's heart.
If she took Pheromosa to a Pokémon Contest, it would surely be wonderful!
Yes, Platinum quite liked Pokémon Contests.
Although Buzzwole and Pheromosa had the exact same type combination, their strengths were different.
Buzzwole had powerful physical attack and excellent physical defense.
Its stamina was also good.
However, its weaknesses were low special defense and average speed.
This was why Paul chose Buzzwole.
Actually, he preferred Pokémon with excellent attack and defense.
Although Buzzwole's special defense was low, he could just avoid Pokémon with strong special attacks.
Pheromosa, on the other hand, had strong physical and special attacks and was extremely fast.
But its physical and special defenses were so low they were practically non-existent.
Calling them "made of paper" was not an exaggeration at all.
Both had their pros and cons.
"Okay, I'll have them sent over to you very soon." Damian nodded with a smile.
He was starting to look forward to it.
He wondered what kind of sparks would fly when the Ash and Paul of this world collided.
-------------------------
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