Wanderer of the Pokémon World

Chapter 259: To Do, or Not to Do

"Best to keep them here for now," Xiu decided, looking at the two– one recovering, the other a stoic, watchful guardian. He left Rinko with additional medical supplies and detailed instructions for the injured bird's continued care.

"I'll check back in a few days." He needed to return to Pallet Town before dinner, before his absence raised too many questions, particularly from Daisy.

The ride back was a blur. The revelation from the Fearow's memory – Team Rocket and Mewtwo – replayed endlessly in his mind. To stumble upon that… was it incredibly good luck or catastrophically bad? He didn't know.

What he did know was that Team Rocket, armed with a weapon as devastating as Mewtwo, was no longer just a regional nuisance. They were now a global-level threat.

Their previous attempts to destabilize Viridian City now seemed like probing attacks, testing the waters. This new information cast their actions in a far more sinister light.

Were they capturing wild Pokémon on such a massive scale to build an army? To fuel some larger, more ambitious plan? It would certainly explain their audacity in challenging the combined might of Nurse Joy and the Pokémon League in Viridian.

Giovanni, with Mewtwo at his command, would feel invincible. This changes everything.

This wasn't about local power struggles anymore. This was about a potential fundamental shift in the balance of power across multiple regions. The Pokémon League, for all its resources, might be unprepared for a threat of this magnitude, especially if they were unaware of Mewtwo's existence.

He arrived back at the institute in a daze, barely registering Daisy's cheerful greeting, her questions about his day. He offered a few perfunctory replies, then retreated to the familiar routines of work, study, and training. Hoping the familiar rhythms would clear his mind and allow him to process what he'd learned.

But the unease lingered, a cold knot in his stomach. His focus wavered. During Scizor's training, his commands were distracted, his observations imprecise. While studying, the words blurred, wisdom failing to penetrate the turmoil in his thoughts.

Mewtwo… controlled by Team Rocket three years before the storyline even begins. This was a significant deviation. What had Giovanni been doing with Mewtwo all this time? What were their ultimate goals?

Viridian City… Team Rocket… Giovanni… Mewtwo… the forest… He tried to connect the pieces to discern a pattern, a purpose.

The recent events in Viridian – was it a prelude to something larger? A feint to draw out the League's resources while the real operation— the mass capture of Pokémon using Mewtwo's power, continued elsewhere, undetected?

If Team Rocket was truly planning to challenge the Pokémon League, armed with an army of captured Pokémon and Mewtwo… the city wouldn't stand a chance.

When you realize your initial plan is failing, Xiu mused, you retreat, conserve your strength, regroup, and wait for a more opportune moment to strike. That would explain Team Rocket's apparent disappearance from Viridian in the later stages of the crisis.

But could even Mewtwo truly topple the Pokémon League? An organization with centuries of history, with resources spanning multiple regions? It seemed improbable.

Yet Mewtwo was a force of nature, a being of almost unimaginable power. Who knows what might happen if that power were unleashed strategically, especially with the wits of someone like Giovanni?

The more he considered it, the more plausible the scenario became. Team Rocket, in the original timeline, had always been an ambitious and dangerous organization— but ultimately dismantled by Red.

What if Mewtwo was the variable that changed their destiny? The catalyst that transformed them from a powerful criminal syndicate into a force capable of challenging the established world order?

This is especially concerning when the events of Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon confirms the existence of a multiverse with the introduction of Team Rainbow Rocket— who is led by none other than Giovanni himself who succeeded in taking over the world because no one was there to stop their schemes in Kanto. 

And what was his role in all of this? He now possessed knowledge that could potentially derail Team Rocket's plans. A few carefully chosen words, a discreet warning to the right people – Oak, Joy, perhaps even Kona1 – could alert the League to Mewtwo's existence and Team Rocket's ambitions. It might be enough. Or it might not.

Alternatively… he could remain silent. Let events unfold. With a destabilized Kanto and a weakened League, it could create… opportunities. Chaos was a ladder, after all.

With his advantages and unique abilities, he could potentially profit immensely from such a situation, perhaps even accelerate his own plans and secure his own future.

But at what cost? He sat on the grass in the backyard, staring blankly at Scizor's training, the dilemma tearing at him. Intervene, risk exposing myself, and become a target with no guarantee of success? Or remain silent, prioritize my own survival, my own advancement, and let the world burn?

"What are you thinking about so intently, Big Brother Xiu?" Daisy's voice, soft and curious, broke through his troubled thoughts. She had approached silently, now sitting beside him.

"Nothing much," Xiu replied automatically, his voice flat, his eyes still fixed on some distant and unseen point.

"You've been… very distracted ever since you returned," Daisy persisted gently. She glanced at the open notebook in his lap. "You've been staring at that same page for almost an hour."

"Difficult problems require… thought," Xiu deflected, closing the notebook with a snap. He was in no mood for the conversation. The weight of his decisions and the potential consequences of either choice, felt overwhelming.

"Can you… tell me about it?" Daisy asked, her voice hesitant, sensing his distress.

"No," Xiu replied curtly. He gave her no room for further questions.

Daisy looked hurt, a flicker of her earlier resentment returning. "Why not?"

"You're too young, Daisy," Xiu said, finally turning to look at her, expression unreadable. He offered a humorless chuckle. "Some burdens… are not so easy to bear. You wouldn't understand and I don't expect that you do. You couldn't help."

Daisy bristled. "You're not that much older than me, you know!"

"Perhaps so," Xiu conceded. "But in experience? We live in different worlds." He didn't care about her bruised ego. He needed to think. He stood abruptly, walking towards Abra who was meditating beneath its tree.

"These Team Rocket idiots," he muttered under his breath, speaking Mandarin, a habit he reverted to when deeply agitated, "always making trouble. Can't they just… focus on sensible, profitable, long-term growth strategies?"

Daisy watched him go with his strange words adding to her confusion and frustration. She didn't understand him at all.

Xiu approached Abra. The Pokémon's training was a silent, internal discipline and intense mental focus. As Xiu stepped within its psychic field, Abra sensed his arrival, its eyes opening, gaze meeting his.

Before Xiu could even begin to say a word, Abra's telepathic voice echoed in his mind, calm and unequivocal.

It was not a question, but a statement of fact.

Xiu closed his eyes, standing before his most trusted companion. "I have to make a decision, Abra," he projected, his thoughts raw and unfiltered. "A decision that will affect our future. Everyone's futures."

The potential consequences, the branching paths of causality, the weight of responsibility… it all flooded his mind, a chaotic torrent of fear, ambition, doubt, and a lingering, welcome spark of… conscience.

He felt Abra's presence, a calm, steady anchor in the storm of his emotions. It absorbed his turmoil, fear, and indecision without judgment. Then, its voice, clear and unwavering, resonated in his mind:

A slow smile spread across Xiu's face. The turmoil stilled. The path ahead, though still fraught with danger, suddenly seemed… clearer. "Alright then, Abra," he said, his voice firm, resolute once more. "Come with me. We need to pay Professor Oak another visit."

Exploiting chaos for personal gain might be profitable, Xiu thought. It might even be the most smartest thing to do... However, there were lines he had drawn for himself.

Allowing Team Rocket to grow stronger, to unleash a weapon like Mewtwo upon the unsuspecting world… that crossed a line.

Some things you do. Some things… you don't.