Chapter 66: Twisted Memories and Desires
"Power! This is the most supreme power!"
Jerrod's hand, holding the black Poké Ball, trembled unceasingly.
The ultimate power he had long pursued, a power for which he was willing to kill other Team Rocket members and betray his own organization to obtain, was now displaying all its might before him.
…
"Smack!"
A loud slap sent a rather burly teenager tumbling to the ground.
"You little brat, hand over your money!" a drunk middle-aged man yelled at the teenager.
"That's the money I earned from my part-time job. I can't give it to you for alcohol," the teenager clutched his pocket tightly. Inside were a few Pokémon Yuan bills he had painstakingly saved from working at a convenience store.
The middle-aged man's eyes turned vicious, and he moved forward to snatch it.
"Cut the crap. I'm your old man. It's only natural for you to use your money to show me filial piety."
The teenager's physique was not inferior to the man's. The latter forcefully tried to pry open the teenager's wrist but couldn't move it for a moment. He then became angry from the embarrassment.
"You bastard! Just like that dead bitch of a mother of yours, both of you are cheap whores!" The man gave up on prying his hand open and instead began to punch the teenager's body solidly, one fist after another. Then, as if not satisfied, he kicked him forcefully with his right foot, cursing nonstop. "I've raised you for so long, what's wrong with using a little of that money to buy alcohol, huh? The little brat dares to resist now?"
The man punched and kicked. Seeing black and red bruises gradually appear on the teenager's shoulders, arms, body, and thighs, the man seemed to feel a different kind of pleasure, becoming more and more addicted to the beating.
The teenager silently endured the assault. This was not the first time he had been beaten. Whenever this man, who was called his father, had a craving for alcohol, he would ransack their home trying to find money. If he couldn't find any, he would always find some excuse to beat his wife and child.
If it weren't for this, Mom wouldn't have... so early...
The teenager thought, waiting for the man to tire himself out from the beating so he could be free.
But this time, for some unknown reason, the man seemed to have gone crazy. After beating him for so long, there was no sign of stopping. The more he hit, the harder he hit.
Gradually, a red haze began to appear before the teenager's eyes, and his mind was becoming less clear from the beating.
"Garbage, trash, dog shit, bastard..." All sorts of foul words came from the middle-aged man's mouth.
The teenager was in a daze. Watching the man curse, for some reason, he grew more and more irritated. A violent aura he had never felt before suddenly surged up.
"Give me..." The teenager suddenly shot to his feet, raised his fist, and slammed it hard into that disgusting face. "...SHUT UP!!!!"
He screamed at the top of his lungs. Under the teenager's powerful fist, the middle-aged man was knocked down with one punch.
"…"
As if not expecting his "son," who never fought back when hit or talked back when scolded, to suddenly retaliate, the middle-aged man's eyes held only astonishment and fear.
Wonderful! This feeling is too wonderful!
Seeing his "father" shut up under his one punch, a wonderful feeling surged through the teenager's heart.
"So, I don't just have to take beatings. I have the strength to fight back..." The teenager took a deep, intoxicated breath. "Is this the feeling of power? It's too wonderful."
"My dear father, now, it's your turn..."
"Ahhh!!!"
Amidst the endless, miserable screams, the silhouette of a burly teenager with a devil-like ferocious grin was outlined.
…
"Big Brother Jerrod, this is the protection money from those few shops."
A punk with a nose ring and a yellow cockscomb hairstyle fawningly handed over the money in his hand.
The burly man leaned against the wall, his eyes slightly closed. He nodded noncommittally at the money his underling handed over.
"Heh, so you're the ones who have been competing with us for protection money lately?"
With a light chuckle, a person wearing black clothes with a large "R" insignia walked out from around the corner of the wall.
The burly man opened his eyes, looking at this suddenly appearing mysterious person with murder in his eyes.
"...Are you here to uphold justice? Let me see if you have enough power to be qualified."
The burly man clenched his fists, swung his right hand, and hammered it horizontally against the wall behind him, punching a hole of considerable size.
"Hehe, don't misunderstand." The mysterious person waved his hand, continuing to maintain that half-smiling expression.
"Violent Jerrod, our boss really admires you."
"Are you willing to join..."
"Team Rocket?"
…
Time passed. Jerrod also went from being a lowly Team Rocket grunt to one of the three major executives in the Ist Region.
But he began to feel a little bored.
"Power... there's no way to increase it further!"
After joining Team Rocket and receiving his first Pokémon, this magical creature had opened up a new path for him to obtain power. In the past, various Pokémon he had plundered, even powerful ones like Dragonair, widely recognized as a pseudo-legendary Pokémon, could no longer satisfy his endless craving for power.
Especially after seeing that one.
The infamous supreme controller of Team Rocket, the greatest villain in history, and at the same time, an exceptionally strong Pokémon Trainer. The power that one controlled made Jerrod feel both fear and an immense yearning.
"Power, only power is the most important thing."
Jerrod could no longer tolerate his own "frailty." He even wanted to leave Team Rocket to seek other paths.
Until he saw that plan.
"Fossil of super ancient Pokémon Mew's eyelash? Research plan for a man-made super divine beast? The ultimate Pokémon that surpasses Mew? Experiment of the Dark Poké Ball?"
Jerrod's eyes were bloodshot, his heart filled with irrepressible excitement.
"Mine... This is mine... No one can take it away..."
…
More time passed.
In the east of Newmoon Forest, on the top floor of the experimental base.
After driving away that annoying old man, Jerrod's eyes revealed utter obsession and fanaticism as he stared intently at the gradually forming white-purple figure in the glass incubator.
"Soon, soon I will have you..."
…
"Die!"
Jerrod, who was originally very burly, had now completely changed. His figure had become extremely gaunt, practically shrinking by a whole size. And his cheeks, usually full of vigor, had become deathly pale. The only thing that hadn't changed was the craving for power in his eyes, and the devil-like ferocious grin on his lips.
He held a black Poké Ball in his hand. Inexplicably, a puff of black smoke emerged from the Poké Ball. The black smoke coiled around the bewildered Team Rocket members. In the instant before those members could even let out a scream, they turned into piles of black ash and fell to the ground.
"Team Rocket no longer has any value."
"The power I want has already arrived!"
Jerrod looked towards the upper floor of the experimental base, his eyes vacant, but that greedy desire, almost tangible, was enough to make one shudder.