After Giovanni killed Mu Sen, the boys watching the spectacle immediately looked toward the Team Rocket members leaning against the corner, checking whether they would do anything.
In truth, they were hoping those Team Rocket members would kill Giovanni on the spot.
Giovanni was a little too frightening. His expression hadn't even changed after killing someone. He was an enemy none of them wanted to face.
If he could be eliminated now, that would be ideal.
Unfortunately, they were destined to be disappointed, because after Giovanni killed him...
Only two Team Rocket members walked over, but under the boys' eager gazes, all they did was pick Charmander's Poké Ball up off the ground, recall it, and drag Mu Sen's body aside.
Even ordinary Poké Balls contained some healing medicine, enough to keep a Pokémon alive.
In fact, Giovanni hadn't been certain before whether he would be punished for killing Mu Sen today.
But when Axin questioned Giovanni, he confirmed his thinking and resolved to act.
Now it seemed he had been right.
Giovanni also spoke to the boys frozen in place.
"Don't just stand there. Kill them."
Although they had promised to help Giovanni, being told to kill people now was something they really couldn't quite bring themselves to do.
Yet Giovanni directly broke down their resistance.
"If you don't kill them now, they'll kill you later, especially now that you've made enemies of them. What do you think this is? A game?"
Max was the first to act after hearing Giovanni's words. He hadn't actually understood them very well.
But he knew Giovanni had a point.
He snapped the neck of the boy he was holding down.
With Max taking the lead, the remaining boys thought it through one after another and began attacking furiously.
Mu Sen's Gang begged Giovanni for mercy.
"Giovanni... Big Brother Giovanni, spare us! We were only working with Mu Sen. We can follow you!"
Giovanni acted as though he hadn't heard their pleas, merely urging the others to act.
"What are you still standing around for? I don't mind doing it for you."
That was what he said, but Weedle at Giovanni's feet looked eager to give it a try, as though it was about to include them among its targets too.
Under those circumstances, how could they dare keep standing there? They had to grit their teeth and kill the people in front of them, or they might be killed themselves.
Only then was Giovanni satisfied.
Having watched the entire scene, Giovanni Rika spoke with interest.
"Giovanni, is it? This little brat is quite something."
Miyamoto answered from behind her.
"Yes, what a coincidence. Not only does he share your surname, Boss, but if it hadn't been for you, he would have died in Viridian Forest long ago."
Giovanni Rika chuckled. "You seem to think highly of him?"
Miyamoto answered with neither servility nor arrogance.
"What I think doesn't matter. What matters is whether he can become the sole victor."
Giovanni Rika didn't quibble with Miyamoto over it. She trusted Miyamoto deeply.
Otherwise, why would she have brought her along to select the next successor?
In terms of seniority, Miyamoto was fully qualified to succeed Giovanni Rika as Team Rocket's second boss.
It was just that Miyamoto lacked the ability. Although she was strong, she had no leadership ability, much less the ambition to lead Team Rocket to the top.
Besides Miyamoto, there was actually another candidate, but Giovanni Rika had ruled him out early on.
He was ambitious but far too impulsive. If Team Rocket were handed over to him...
He would very likely lead the still far-too-immature Team Rocket in an attack on the Pokémon League after taking over.
That might drag Team Rocket into the abyss.
With something of a headache, Giovanni Rika asked Miyamoto,
"Where's Aidos? Didn't he already come back?"
Miyamoto answered,
"Yes, he's back, but I don't know exactly where he is. As you know, he strongly opposes your candidate plan."
Giovanni Rika patted Miyamoto.
"You know that even without the candidate plan, he couldn't become Team Rocket's next leader."
Miyamoto spoke to Giovanni Rika with some concern.
"I know. It's just that he'll probably stir up trouble. He's bound to try every means to ruin your plan."
Giovanni Rika, however, didn't mind.
"Whether he stirs up trouble doesn't matter. Team Rocket's future needs to weather storms! A little setback is nothing!"
"Come on. It's time to get these children of mine to settle down."
Miyamoto acknowledged her without trying to stop Giovanni Rika's decision. "Yes."
And because Giovanni had made the first move, the remaining boys had all sprung into action as well.
The scene descended into chaos once more, with only a few Team Rocket members moving back and forth under their Pokémon's protection, recalling the Pokémon left without owners.
As for the bodies, they would leave them here for now. There was no hurry, anyway.
In contrast to the surrounding chaos, Giovanni was like a harbinger of disaster whom no one dared provoke.
No matter how fiercely the boys around him fought, they left the space around Giovanni clear, afraid he would set his sights on them and they would be finished.
When someone was caught in this sort of chaos and felt utterly unsafe, they would move toward whoever they believed could protect them.
The twenty-odd boys Giovanni had ordered around earlier were just like that. They immediately moved closer to Giovanni, as though only being near him gave them enough of a sense of security.
Once that dependence formed, it would be very hard to break.
Giovanni didn't mind these twenty-odd people drawing close. It would save him some trouble, anyway.
After all, Giovanni alone was already difficult to mess with. Now that twenty-odd people had gathered around him, that went without saying.
But often, the more one thought that way, the more trouble came knocking.
Whoosh!
A poisoned Shuriken shot toward the completely unguarded Giovanni.
It was a killing move, aimed straight at Giovanni's head. If it hit, he would either die or be injured.
Fortunately, the targeted training of the past few days had made Weedle highly sensitive to moving objects.
It spotted the Shuriken instantly, opened its mouth, and spat out a mass of String Shot that bound the Shuriken tightly.
By the time it reached Giovanni, it had already been wrapped into a ball of silk.
Giovanni looked in the direction the Shuriken had come from. There stood a boy who was utterly inconspicuous in the crowd, looking frail and thin, even thinner than Giovanni had been before.
An Ekans that didn't look particularly healthy followed at his side.
Yet this very person gave Giovanni a sense of threat that the others hadn't.
This guy must be from Ninja Village. With that appearance, he's a born ninja.
He really knows how to bide his time, too, waiting until now to attack me, the one he considers the greatest threat.
No, perhaps he was waiting for the greatest threat to emerge so he could settle things once and for all.
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