Pokémon: Rebron as Red, The Strongest Champion

"You two came quite 'timely'," the Millennium Gengar grumbled. They only arrived after the battle, which was some good timing.

Hitmonchan and Abra scratched their heads awkwardly when they heard this, their eyes involuntarily darting elsewhere.

"Why do you two look so drained? Could it be that you secretly did something shady behind our backs?" The Millennium Gengar floated curiously over to them, looking at Hitmonchan carrying the exhausted Abra, a knowing smile appearing on its face.

'I'm not that kind of Pokémon!' Hitmonchan yelped, so startled that it dropped Abra on the ground. It didn't want to be misunderstood by the Gengar.

'I—you…' Abra, whose backside had just hit the hard floor, painfully rubbed the sore spot. If it weren't for the stamina it had consumed by repeatedly using Teleport, Abra would have given Hitmonchan a taste of its psychic power.

"Stop messing around, Gengar. Hitmonchan and Abra aren't the type to waste time. Something must have delayed them," Red said, stepping in.

'Exactly, exactly!' Hitmonchan nodded.

'Just now, my subordinate and I, while on our way to assist the great Sorcerer King, unexpectedly sensed a terrifying abyssal power, which slowed our advance,' Abra explained telepathically.

Hitmonchan was about to refute Abra's mention of a 'subordinate', but seeing Abra's slightly reddened behind, it held its tongue.

"What is this silly boy rambling about? I didn't understand a thing," the Millennium Gengar wondered.

'It means we happened to discover a time bomb on the way here, and to ensure this underground experimental base wasn't destroyed, we were delayed,' Hitmonchan 'translated' for Abra.

"Boss, these two discovered a time bomb, that's why they were late," the Millennium Gengar relayed.

"…" Red was silent for a moment, then quietly looked at the time bomb Abra was holding.

"I can see it…" Red's eyes glowed blue, and he used his psychic power to control the time bomb, making it float into his hand. These time bombs had already been disarmed by Abra using Confusion, so they couldn't cause any explosive damage.

"It seems Dan left me a big gift before he left," Red said blandly, guessing it was Dan's doing, meant to make him and the others perish along with the underground base.

"Gengar, go see if the computer data can still be accessed."

Upon hearing this, the Millennium Gengar quickly went to the computer controlling the machinery, typing on the keyboard. It found that the underground base's data had already begun formatting, making it impossible to read any information.

"Boss, this deletion method is very targeted. It deletes and replaces important parts. Even if we had copied it initially, it would probably be a bunch of useless data," the Millennium Gengar explained.

"It's fine, this has nothing to do with us," Red said indifferently. Since the current data was useless, he prepared to leave with his Pokémon, leaving the rest to the police led by Officer Jenny.

Seeing the battle was over, Beedrill reverted from its Mega Evolution form. Having undergone Mega Evolution for the first time with Red, it showed no ill effects; instead, its body's instincts were excited. After all, Beedrill and Red had been partners for many years, and their physical and mental synchronization had long reached a perfect stage.

Charizard shook its head regretfully. It hadn't had much to do all day; only the dirty work of burning the Triple-Headed Bird's corpse was left for it, which was a bit of an overkill.

As Red was about to leave, the police, led by Officer Jenny, arrived at the laboratory, surrounding Red and his Pokémon. They cautiously observed him.

"Are you all idiots? My boss and I went through so much trouble to come here and help you deal with Team Rocket, and not only do you not thank us, you treat us as enemies?" the Millennium Gengar said crossly. What an unlucky situation.

"Excuse me, Mr. Red." The leading Officer Jenny, having heard of Red's deeds, quickly ordered her subordinates to lower their guard and politely extended her hand to shake Red's.

"The Celadon Game Corner is a secret experimental base set up by Team Rocket. It mainly focuses on capturing wild Pokémon for cloning experiments, but all the computer data here has been formatted and cannot be used."

Red briefly recounted the events and asked Officer Jenny about the Pokémon Abra had rescued. Upon learning that Nurse Joy was waiting outside, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

"This Dodrio's body is severely damaged. I need to leave quickly to find Nurse Joy for treatment."

With that, under everyone's astonished gazes, Red and Abra simultaneously used Teleport to take all the Pokémon away, leaving only Officer Jenny and the other officers looking at each other amidst the deep, cracked pits that hinted at the extraordinary battle that had taken place.

To avoid unnecessary commotion, Red recalled his Pokémon, leaving only Eevee, who had returned to its normal form, and Dodrio by his side.

"Nurse Joy, please give Dodrio a full body check immediately. This Dodrio has been imprisoned in a cage for experiments, and its body is on the verge of collapse," Red said urgently.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of this Dodrio," Nurse Joy assured, instructing her assistant Chansey to push a hospital bed over to settle Dodrio.

Dodrio, lying on the hospital bed, struggled to get up and looked at Red with gratitude, but it didn't harbor the thought of becoming Red's companion. This wasn't due to foolishness, but rather out of inner timidity. Dodrio had personally witnessed the power of Beedrill and the other Pokémon and clearly understood that joining Red's team would only make it a burden. It could only transform its gratitude into motivation to become stronger, silently wishing Red to become a top-tier powerhouse.

"Red! Eevee! I'm glad you're both okay…"

Erika, standing not far away, ran to Red, her expression slightly flustered. As a Gym Leader, she hadn't even noticed that Team Rocket had infiltrated Celadon City. Because she felt she had failed in her duty, she didn't dare to look Red directly in the eyes.

"It's alright, Erika," Red slowly comforted her. "The power of Team Rocket isn't something you alone can stop. You don't need to worry about it too much."

"I just feel that as a Gym Leader, I didn't play any role in this incident…" Erika whispered, lowering her head in guilt.

"That's not true, Erika. If you hadn't taken care of Eevee, it might have been taken by Team Rocket long ago. If that had happened, things probably wouldn't have been so simple," Red explained, reassuring her not to feel such a psychological burden.

"Eevee~"

Eevee also jumped into Erika's arms, licking her cheek and telling her not to be so sad anymore.

"Red, if possible, I hope Eevee can be entrusted to your care," Erika said solemnly, then gave an awkward laugh. "That's not quite right. After all, Eevee originally belonged to you. I merely took care of it for a short while."

Noticing the trembling of Erika's hands, Eevee also knew that she was reluctant for it to leave, but Eevee's aspirations had always been with Red. The scene of Red rescuing it in Viridian Forest that day had long been deeply imprinted in its mind. By the time Eevee wanted to turn back to find him, Red was already gone.

Since then, Eevee had embarked on its own journey, all in order to meet Red again.

[Chapter Complete]

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