180 Seeing is believing

Hope you're having a lovely night or day wherever you are! I bring to you 5 chapters in a row to speed things up. hope you enjoy it!

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But he was surprised, he initially wanted to have the trio stick with Ash, after all, they not only kept him busy and caused trouble for him which subsequently kept Ash away from him, but it also served as the kid's exp generator. Who knows, he might even get weaker without them. In any case, he actually had a good impression of the trio.

He even thought about training them and adding them to his organisation, but on second thought, he decided to avoid tampering with God's favourite child too much. He might just get hit with a stray bolt of lightning out of nowhere and end up in front of that bearded old goat again.

He was soon pulled back to reality before his stray thoughts wandered any more.

"Ahh, that makes sense, although that kid is not even in the same realm of strength as you, he did pose an interesting challenge for me when he came to my gym," Giovanni said lightly.

"Oh? do tell," Rex said with interest.

"Well, he didn't have the strength to make me use my full-strength team. But he definitely has potential. A lot of it I must add. His Charizard especially was quite the surprise. Incredibly powerful, but it didn't seem to obey any of Ash's commands which I found odd.

At first, it seemed totally uninterested in the fight until it saw my Machamp. Although not as powerful as yours, mine is still well trained and a true challenge to regular trainers. That lizard really gave me a run for my money. I only took it down after having Rhyperior use rock throw.

His other Pokémon included a Squirtle, Bulbasaur and his signature Pikachu. They were strong, the potential was there, and if they fully evolved, he would have breezed through my gym without much difficulty. I might have had to use my actual team to pose a challenge for him. But I usually make that optional for the challengers. Anyway, I agree with you that he is very unpredictable." Giovanni concluded with a reminiscing chuckle.

Everything he said was within Rex's expectations. Since Mewtwo wasn't there when Ash challenged the gym, he would have had to do a normal battle. But what he found interesting was that he was actually able to win normally and not through some other unorthodox method as he did with some of the other gyms. especially against Giovanni who was the hardest gym leader in the region.

He wasn't surprised about his Charizard either, that thing was monstrously strong for an ordinary pokemon of its species. Yet it probably wouldn't win against Alain; although, with more training, a better diet and a mega stone, the possibilities were still there.

In any case, he didn't have to do anything about those three team rocket idiots, Ash was slightly stronger than in canon currently as it seemed, but that can be attributed to his existence and therefore the butterfly effect as a consequence of his interaction with this world. Nothing to worry about though.

If Ash got stronger he was all for it, if he got weaker he could only pity the eternal 10-year-old boy. But he doubted the latter would happen and was more inclined to believe in the former. He only hoped to interact with him less in the future so that his bad luck wouldn't contaminate him.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Giovanni asked.

"Two days from now I will be going to meet Mewtwo. After that, I'll wait for the league. There really isn't much else to do really. I cannot mobilise wicked's forces at the moment since they are still not trained. So, all plans related to that must be put on hold for the time being." Rex said as he lowered his arms and gazed at the bustling city full of liveliness and vigour.

Rex was just excited to get to the league. He truly wanted to experience the rush of battling before an audience. Just the thought alone made him giddy inside.

"Understandable, you don't have to worry about anything here, I have everything covered. Oh, before I forget, we have sent the plan for the restriction/ emergency ball plans to the league along with our proposition. We hope to hear from them today. Would you like to attend the meeting?" he asked casually.

'Do I have anything to do?' he asked in his mind.

[None] Gaia responded immediately.

Rex turned to Giovanni, "I have nothing to do, so I'll gladly join you." He said with a smile. He walked down the stairs leading from the roof to the top floor and made his way to his office. His clothes were wet after all. Giovanni did the same.

5 minutes later, two men walked out in fresh black suits. They glanced at each other, nodded, and made their way down to the 15th floor where marketing was located. Although the marketing team wouldn't normally be in charge of dealing with this, they did want to listen in, just in case there were any requirements the league had before putting it for sale or anything they wished to add to the deal.

The elevator door slid open with a ding, and as they walked forward a cacophony of sounds assaulted the eardrums of the two, some were talking loudly, clearly discussing something that they couldn't agree on. some were typing very fast, some were flipping through pages quickly trying to find something, and some were laughing as they had their break.

But what they all had in common was that they froze upon seeing the appearance of the two men. The signature white-haired youth and short hair and stern-faced middle-aged man gave the whole floor a sense of pressure.

They all knew about Giovanni's reputation; most were hesitant to work here because of it. But they were soon swayed by the monstrous paycheck they would receive. But the youngster next to them was someone they had never heard of.

In all honesty, they didn't really respect this youth, he looked ignorant, clearly raised with a silver spoon, maybe a second-generation rich kid who had never worked a day in his life, leeching off his parent's money. They knew he had no background in business, no relevant degrees or anything of the sort. The one thing they knew was that he was participating in the league.

They also knew that Gaia, the god they all respected, admired and idolised, worked for this kid. They couldn't understand how their all-mighty Gaia, beyond any other, couldn't lower themselves to work for this good for nothing.

staring at the crowd, Rex was naturally aware of the thoughts everyone had in their heads. After all, it was human nature to focus on the worst in people. He wasn't particularly affected by their thoughts either, as long as they remained thoughts. In any case, one month and a half from now, their thoughts will make a 180-degree turn. Like sheep, they will fall in line and all this negativity will fade, as if it never existed.

Rex knew this, Gaia knew this, and Giovanni certainly knew this, that's why they never really bothered to the change or prove themselves or their intentions. Actions would speak louder than words.

Well, more specifically, the hysterical, impassioned screams of the crowd as they chanted Rex's names from the stands would change their minds.

He calmly gazed at the temporary looks of discontent they tried to hide and smiled as if he was a blind man.