c129: Team Rocket Giovanni's Attention!!
"It's okay to be a plastic surgeon. But my dream is to become the world's greatest Pokémon Trainer I won't change that," Ash replied firmly, shaking his head with determination.
"Aww, what a pity," Yoko said, her voice laced with regret and a little teasing disappointment.
At this moment, it wasn't just Yoko who felt a sense of loss many female viewers watching the live broadcast wore matching expressions of regret.
Vanity is in a woman's nature, and that transcends age or generation.
While boys might concern themselves more with growing stronger or increasing their skills, women constantly seek ways to enhance their beauty either to become beautiful or to elevate the beauty they already possess. It's an eternal pursuit, and not one easily abandoned.
Yet neither Ash nor most of the boys at camp realized just how enormously appealing his healing Psychic ability was to women. A power that could heal wounds flawlessly, without leaving scars? That was revolutionary.
Of course, not all boys were oblivious.
Over in Nibi City's Pewter Gym, a young man with tanned skin, perpetually narrowed eyes, and a practical build was mopping the floor. He wore an orange short-sleeve shirt, over which was a gray-green utility vest with multiple pockets, the kind typically worn by hikers and field Trainers.
Oddly enough, over all this, he had thrown on a pink apron with a strawberry print, revealing he was mid-housework. The television in the room was playing the live feed from the summer camp.
This was Brock, the Gym Leader of Nibi City, a rock-type specialist and an infamous romantic in the Pokémon Adventures manga, often comically desperate for love and constantly rejected by women.
He let out a dramatic sigh, tone weary and exaggerated:
"Man… I really envy that kid Ash. He's got this amazing Psychic ability, and he's not even using it properly!"
Brock paused to shake the mop and continued in an overly sentimental voice:
"If I had a healing-type Psychic like that… I'd be doing skincare clinics, scar removal, maybe even assisting Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center full-time… Ah, what a life that would be."
"Seriously why don't I get powers like that?!" he cried out with exaggerated longing, a pose of mock despair as he clutched his mop like a tragic actor.
But Brock wasn't the only one who had noticed.
In a more somber location the Viridian City Gym, a cavernous and shadowed place that resembled a temple more than a training center a figure was also watching the same broadcast.
This was Giovanni, the Leader of Team Rocket and Viridian's hidden Gym Leader. In the manga, Giovanni is a ruthless strategist, calm, cold, and deadly efficient. He had once served as a powerful Elite Gym Leader, manipulating events behind the scenes, including controlling Mewtwo's creation.
He sat silently in a plush black leather armchair, surrounded by opulence and gloom. The TV mounted on the wall played the footage of Ash using the Viridian Power the emerald-green energy from earlier to heal Yoko's wound.
In his left hand, Giovanni absentmindedly stroked the fur of his Persian, the cat Pokémon lounging elegantly beside him. His right hand rhythmically tapped against the sofa armrest silent but calculating.
His face, as ever, showed no emotion. But when the screen zoomed in on Ash's hands glowing with the energy of Viridian, Giovanni's eyes usually half-lidded and unreadable narrowed with intensity.
The tapping of his fingers paused.
He had seen this power once before.
A long time ago.
And now… it had reappeared.
In the hands of a child.
The man stopped tapping on the armrest of the sofa, raised his hand to eye level, and summoned a hidden, powerful force from deep within his body.
"—————"
A faint glow surged from his palm an emerald-green radiance, uncannily similar in hue and texture to the one Ash had just displayed on live television. It pulsed with calm energy, its composition unmistakably alike.
"The power of Viridian… and not just that the rarest branch: regenerative healing."
Giovanni's voice was cold and calculating. His gaze sharpened as he stared into the glow.
"That plan stalled because of genetic collapse—Dr. Fuji hasn't made progress in months."
"But with this child's healing potential... we may finally be able to reactivate Project Revival." The stern-faced man muttered to himself, his voice just above a whisper.
"Matori."
"Yes, BOSS!" At Giovanni's call, a young woman with sleek, short black hair and a sharp bob cut entered the room briskly. She wore thin glasses and a fitted business suit, typical of an executive assistant. This was Matori, Giovanni's top aide and personal secretary.
"You're aware that Jessie, James, and Meowth recently infiltrated the Pokémon Summer Camp?"
"Yes, BOSS. The trio reported two days ago after sneaking into the Kanto-Kalos Exchange Camp. They claimed their objective was to confiscate the batch of starter Pokémon distributed to campers."
"They also mentioned wanting to recruit promising trainees into Team Rocket as future operatives." Matori gave her report crisply.
Giovanni nodded, then gave his revised orders:
"Tell them the Pokémon-snatching and recruitment ops are suspended. I want that boy. Ash Ketchum. Have Jessie, James, and Meowth abandon all other objectives and bring him to me intact."
"Yes, BOSS. I'll relay the revised mission directive immediately," Matori answered, adjusting her glasses before swiftly leaving the room.
Giovanni leaned back into the shadows.
Ash had believed his exposure was minimal just the activation of a minor healing ability in public. Surely, he thought, no major threat would emerge from something so modest.
But Ash didn't realize that his use of the Viridian Power had caught the attention of someone who knew its true potential—the last person he would ever want to notice him.
~
Pokémon Summer Camp – Forest Campground
"Brother Ash is really incredible. After Xiao Hao was attacked by Gyarados yesterday, I heard you stepped up to treat him right away and you didn't even give up when you collapsed from exhaustion." Yoko looked at Ash with admiration in her eyes.
"Do you and Xiao Hao have a close friendship?" she asked.
Ash, however, shook his head.
"Not really. Before the summer camp, we had no interaction. Even after camp started, we weren't assigned the same dorm or activities, so we never got close. Everyone's still getting to know each other."
"But when Xiao Hao was injured by Gyarados, I didn't think twice. I just felt, if I've been given the ability to heal, then I should step forward at a time like that."
He paused, voice turning more personal.
"My Psychic only awakened last week. Last Saturday, my friends and I went fishing near the Pallet Town riverbank, and we accidentally fell into the water. I was rushed to Viridian City General Hospital, where I stayed for two days."
"When I woke up, I could feel something new inside me a force. That's when I realized my Psychic abilities had awakened. I think of it as a blessing despite nearly drowning, I didn't just survive. I came back changed."
"Even though I want to be a Pokémon Trainer, not a healer like Nurse Joy, I know this power is important. So whenever someone's hurt… I want to help."
He looked down, frustration shadowing his eyes.
"But since I only awakened these powers recently, they're still weak. I can treat minor injuries, but Xiao Hao's wounds yesterday… they were too severe. Even though I gave it everything I had, I couldn't fully heal him."
"For that… I feel really guilty."
Ash said this with a strained smile, but his downcast eyes told the truth. His frustration wasn't just about failure—it was about his Viridian and Aura abilities still being underdeveloped.
The audience in front of the TV, including Yoko, didn't realize that. To them, Ash was just a gifted six-year-old doing his best. What could a child like that possibly be hiding?
They had no idea his powers connected him to legends or that he had just stepped onto a path watched by those far more dangerous than he yet imagined.
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