"It seems your joining Team Rocket wasn't an accident after all—considering the kind of person you are."
Lorelei recovered her composure quickly. Her gaze was so cold it felt like it could freeze skin on contact.
She would never feel sympathy for any member of Team Rocket. Still, she'd heard from Agatha and Goodshow that a brilliant rising star had joined them—and that the stated reason was "tragic." Lorelei had kept a sliver of doubt.
Seeing him now, that doubt vanished. A man with eyes like that ending up in Team Rocket? Of course.
"Caitlin pressed her lips together. Her eyes flicked—briefly—to Lorelei's breasts… then dropped to her own."
Mhm. Looking down, she could see her toes perfectly.
Caitlin fell into thought.
How, exactly, was she supposed to make them grow"?
"The kind of person I am?" Damian's smile was faint, almost amused—like he'd been handed a bad joke.
"Lorelei, don't talk as if you've got me figured out."
"I don't need to know you. And I have no reason to," Lorelei replied, voice flat as ice.
Damian exhaled through his nose. "Cold."
He tilted his head, eyes narrowing just a touch.
"Then here's all you need to know: you're spending the rest of your life in a cell at Indigo Plateau."
"Blizzard!"
Lorelei clearly had no interest in wasting breath. She snapped the order out immediately.
Dewgong and Lapras opened their mouths at the same time, ice-blue energy compressing into a single point—
And then it exploded.
A violent storm of snow and frost swallowed the space between them, turning the battlefield into a whiteout.
The Ice-type move, Blizzard!
"It looks scary, I'll give you that," Damian said, smiling as if he were watching fireworks.
Armored Mewtwo stepped forward.
Psychic energy surged—oppressive—and a deep purple barrier unfolded in front of it.
The Blizzard slammed into the shield in a furious roar, snow and razor wind shrieking like a living thing.
And yet—
Armored Mewtwo's barrier didn't so much as tremble.
Then Mewtwo swung its arm.
A sharp crack split the air.
The shield flared—and the entire Blizzard was swept away as if someone had simply erased it.
!!!
Lorelei's pupils tightened.
Bruno's expression hardened instantly, shock flashing across his face before it sank into something heavier.
"The power's a little thin," Damian said, grin widening. "If you're hoping that's enough to put my Mewtwo down… you've got a long way to go."
"How is this possible?!" Lorelei's brows drew tight as she stared at the armored Pokémon—something she'd never seen before.
It stood there, calm and composed, like that Blizzard had been nothing more than a chilly breeze.
How could it be this strong?
She understood perfectly: Dewgong and Lapras hadn't even gone all-out yet, and still—was it normal for an attack like that to be handled so casually?
"Lorelei," Bruno said, voice low, "be careful. There's something off about this guy."
"I know," Lorelei replied, eyes never leaving Mewtwo.
Bruno stared at the armor, at the aura, at the way psychic pressure sat in the air like weight.
"It looks like Psychic and Steel. If that's the case…"
He snapped his order.
"Hitmonlee, Machamp! Throat Chop!"
Hitmonlee and Machamp charged at the same time, closing in fast.
"Ice Beam!" Lorelei provided cover without hesitation.
Dewgong and Lapras fired together—jagged, winding beams of ice ripping forward to clear the path.
"Weak," Armored Mewtwo said—cold, effortless.
It glanced toward Lorelei's side.
Deep purple fire flickered in its eyes.
Then it raised its right arm, and terrifying psychic power poured out, condensing into a vibrating, multi-colored shockwave.
Psychic!
The shockwave collided with the two Ice Beams—
For a fraction of a second, there was resistance.
And then the Ice Beams shattered. Crushed.
The Psychic surge kept going.
"Protect!" Lorelei's expression changed.
Lapras reacted instantly. A green barrier lit up in front of it.
The Psychic attack slammed into Protect with brutal force. Lapras grit its teeth as the barrier groaned under pressure.
It was heavy—too heavy.
Meanwhile, Hitmonlee and Machamp had already reached Armored Mewtwo.
Hitmonlee arrived first, springing into the air. Dark light gathered around its foot, and it whipped downward.
The Dark-type move, Throat Chop!
Its leg snapped out like a whip, striking in a blink—
But Armored Mewtwo only turned its head.
A deep purple defensive barrier appeared.
Hitmonlee's kick struck it with a hard bang, ripples spreading across the surface—
And stopped.
It didn't break through.
Bruno's eyes narrowed. "What is that? That isn't Protect…"
Machamp arrived a heartbeat later, raising all four arms.
A four-fold Throat Chop!
But Armored Mewtwo's gaze shifted.
Psychic energy erupted.
Machamp's body locked mid-motion as if time itself had grabbed it by the throat.
A hard, brutal psychic bind.
Veins bulged across Machamp's body. Its face twisted, teeth clenched, muscles screaming as it tried to force movement—
It couldn't.
Bruno froze.
It just looked at Machamp… and pinned it?
What kind of monster was that?!
"Mewtwo," Damian said, smiling in clear satisfaction.
He was pleased—genuinely.
Shadow Mewtwo had only recently awakened, and the armor was still restricting it.
And yet it was doing this.
Armored Mewtwo's palm twisted slightly.
A surge of pure psychic force exploded outward from its center.
Hitmonlee and Machamp were blown back, bodies skidding and slamming hard into the ground.
"You two," Damian said, voice slow and almost regretful, "with that level of strength… sending me to prison might be a little optimistic."
Lorelei's face was cold—ugly with restrained fury.
Bruno's expression was complicated. He stared at Machamp and Hitmonlee, wanting to speak—then swallowing it.
Erika watched Damian with a dazed, conflicted look.
Even Lorelei and Bruno weren't enough?
This…
Mr. Giovanni… you seriously created the biggest disaster for the League!!!
"Don't get too smug!" Lorelei shout. "Evil Team Rocket scum—I'll take you down with my own hands!"
Her chest rose and fell sharply with her breath, the motion practically a declaration of anger in itself.
She yanked out another Poké Ball and released it.
A Jynx appeared.
"Oh?" Damian lifted an eyebrow. "An Ice Doll?"
This Lorelei—clearly the manga version—was harsh, sharp, and cruel.
And she had a secret technique.
Just like Agatha's Death Makeup—adjusting the patterns on Arbok's chest to emphasize speed, power, or defense—Lorelei's Ice Doll was its own brand of menace.
Jynx could create an ice doll modeled after a target. Lorelei would apply lipstick to specific parts of that doll, and the corresponding parts of the target would freeze.
It was tactical control, psychological pressure, and a flex of Ice-type mastery rolled into one.
Mhm. It also made for a nasty sneak attack.
If you got frozen mid-fight, panic was inevitable—and panic created openings. Of course, it only worked in unconventional battles, the kind that happened out in the wild.
In official matches, it was illegal.
And as for that—
"That won't work on me," Damian said, laughing softly. "You're aiming high, Lorelei."
No one fully understood the exact mechanics, but it was obvious enough: Jynx used psychic power to forge a link between the target and the doll, then froze the link.
The problem was—
Caitlin, a Psychic specialist, was right beside him.
And a Legendary Psychic Pokémon was right in front of him.
If Jynx wanted to build a clean connection through that interference, it wasn't happening.
On top of that, Damian had Viridian Power. He wasn't like the manga's Red—caught off guard with no special edge to resist the trick.
"Blizzard!" Lorelei cut in decisively.
Dewgong and Lapras attacked again to buy time while Jynx started forming Damian's ice doll.
Bruno understood Lorelei's ability well. He hesitated only a moment, then ordered Machamp and Hitmonlee to go in again as cover.
Even if he thought it wouldn't work—trying was still better than standing still.
"Mewtwo," Damian said.
Armored Mewtwo raised its hand again.
His psychic power tore the incoming blizzard apart like it was nothing.
At the same time, Machamp and Hitmonlee were blasted away again by the erupting shockwave—
And this time, they lost the ability to battle.
It couldn't be helped. Bruno's Fighting-types were naturally countered by Psychic, and they'd already eaten two solid waves of that oppressive force. It was like taking a Psychic attack twice in a row—no matter how elite the team was, that kind of punishment stacked fast.
On Lorelei's side, Jynx worked quickly.
But then—
It found it couldn't establish the connection at all.
No matter what it tried.
"What's wrong?" Lorelei frowned, eyes shifting to Jynx.
Jynx was drenched in sweat.
Because the armored Pokémon across the field was staring at it—those deep purple eyes heavy with pressure, cold and predatory.
Jynx nearly shook.
It understood immediately: with Armored Mewtwo's psychic interference, it couldn't create Damian's ice doll in the first place.
Lorelei's face darkened.
She understood too.
For a moment, the battlefield went quiet.
"It looks like you failed," Damian said, voice perfectly timed—like he'd been waiting to twist the knife. "Anything else up your sleeve, Lorelei?"
"You—!!"
Provocation.
"Shameless! Evil Team Rocket!" Lorelei's anger flared, eyes burning as she glared at him.
Bruno, however, was much smarter.
His hand was already in his pocket, pulling out a special communication device, clicking it frantically.
Agatha, you old hag! Lance! Help me out here!
Truthfully, Bruno didn't even like Agatha or Lance. Among the Kanto Elite Four, he was always the one quietly pushed aside.
And Agatha in particular—
He kept a respectful distance from that eerie old woman who looked like she carried curses in her sleeves. He'd always felt her gaze on him had bad intent.
How was that not terrifying? A muscle-bound man like him being watched by a bone-thin, gloomy old lady—she had to be coveting his perfect physique!
But urgency was urgency. Backup first.
This Team Rocket executive was too strong; it probably took Agatha and Lance to deal with him.
Lorelei always lost her head around Team Rocket.
But he, Bruno, was different.
"Oh?" Damian sighed lightly, like he'd been genuinely offended. "Shameless, huh? First time I've heard that one."
He tilted his head.
"But since you insist…"
"Mewtwo."
Armored Mewtwo understood instantly.
It raised its right arm—aimed directly at Lorelei.
Psychic energy surged.
Even the wind seemed to pause.
Dewgong and Lapras—already injured—were slammed into the ground under the sheer weight of the psychic pressure, unable to move.
Jynx was suppressed too. It could barely twitch—and only barely.
Lorelei herself was seized by that force and lifted.
Jynx panicked, forcing its own psychic power outward to pull Lorelei back—
One attempt was enough.
It was completely outclassed.
Armored Mewtwo shot Jynx a cold glance.
What kind of minor character are you, trying to snatch someone from me?
Jynx felt extremely wronged.
Lorelei's face went pale, fury and humiliation twisting together.
She never imagined she'd be captured by Team Rocket.
"Don't do anything stupid, Bruno," Damian said, finally turning his attention slightly—still not even bothering to look away from Lorelei. "Otherwise I can't guarantee Lorelei stays in one piece."
Lorelei was dropped beside Damian, still held fast by Armored Mewtwo's psychic grip.
Damian looked her up close and clicked his tongue, admiration and menace mixing in the sound.
Bruno's movements stopped.
"…Damian. Let Lorelei go, and we'll let you leave," Bruno said, voice heavy.
If something happened to Lorelei, it wouldn't be a joke.
Lorelei bit her lip hard. Damian's unrestrained gaze made her feel sick with humiliation, but the situation had forced her into a corner.
"Relax," Damian said lightly. "Lorelei's got too much value for me to 'damage' her."
"You bastard!" Lorelei said. "Damian, I will never let you get away with this!"
A warrior could be killed, but not insulted.
How dare he?
"Still got a sharp mouth," Damian sighed.
Damian rested his chin on his hand, the corners of his mouth curling up high—wearing that casual, theatrical cruelty that made him look like a villain straight out of a late-night drama.
He leaned in just enough for the threat to land.
"I wonder if you'll still be this stubborn if I make you carry my child."
Lorelei's expression shifted violently.
"You—!"
Erika swallowed hard and took two instinctive steps back, hoping the blast radius wouldn't swing her way.
Caitlin's delicate brows furrowed, her displeasure aimed squarely at Lorelei.
As for Bruno—he stared at Damian and Lorelei, jaw hanging.
Holy crap.
What a ruthless guy!!
----
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