"Conkeldurr."
(So, what do we do? Go after him?)
Conkeldurr looked to Machamp for an answer.
"Machamp!"
(Chase him! Of course we chase him! But that Eevee...)
Machamp wanted nothing more than to crush Team Rocket on the spot, but there was still an Eevee here in the ruins of Saffron Gym that needed help.
"I'll handle it!"
Lillie volunteered at once. She pulled open the food basket, scooped the injured Eevee into it, and tucked it in beside Cosmog.
"Machamp..."
(All right. Then that's what we'll do.)
Machamp and Conkeldurr exchanged a look. At the moment, that was the only workable plan.
That said, they were not about to rush out blindly after Team Rocket.
They were going to make proper preparations first, then go settle things with them.
"Machamp."
(If we go searching for Team Rocket like this, we'll just end up running around like headless Tauros. Let's go find an expert tracker.)
Machamp happened to know an old Alakazam, the kind of mystical old fraud who could use Future Sight like it was nothing. Actively searching for the location of a Pokémon or person was practically second nature to it.
"Conkeldurr."
(Okay, then let's go find him together.)
Conkeldurr left with Machamp to look for Alakazam, leaving Lillie where she was.
"Eevee..."
(Human... awful human... why did you hurt me...)
Eevee was breathing hard, struggling to break free from Lillie's hold.
But trapped inside that basket, there was no way for it to slip out.
"It's okay, it's okay, you're safe now, no, ow..."
Lillie tried to soothe it, only for Eevee to bite her when she reached up to stroke its head.
Fortunately, it did not draw blood.
It just hurt.
"Eevee..."
(My head feels so dizzy... I want to sleep...)
Without realizing it, Eevee let go, then passed out.
"Hang in there, Eevee. I'll get you back to the dojo and have you treated!"
Lillie picked up the basket and ran straight for the Fighting Dojo.
...
...
"Alakazam."
(You're saying you want to find the location of a Team Rocket member, correct?)
An Alakazam that looked far older and more seasoned than most Alakazam swept its gaze across Machamp and Conkeldurr.
Hearing that, Machamp nodded repeatedly and handed over the torn half of the stealth suit.
"Machamp."
(Master Alakazam, this is a close-fitting piece of clothing I found from the one who escaped. Do you think you can divine something from it?)
Specific divinations, specific uses of Future Sight, required a specific item.
For example, if someone wanted to track Red, they would need a personal belonging of Red's.
A coat, a belt, a hat, any of those would work.
Of course, a battle legend like Red was far beyond what a little novice like this Alakazam could ever divine.
But a random Team Rocket grunt?
That was easy.
"Alakazam."
(Mm. Other than this, did you bring what I asked for?)
This Alakazam was a wild Pokémon. Normally, when it told fortunes or made divinations for other Pokémon, it did not do it for free.
In other words, if they wanted its help, they had to offer a little payment.
What it wanted depended on what was being asked of it.
"Machamp."
(We did, we did. We brought everything.)
Machamp clapped its hands.
Conkeldurr walked forward.
Several Berries rested quietly on top of its concrete pillar.
"Conkeldurr."
(Master Alakazam, do these work for you?)
Conkeldurr gave an honest, simple smile.
These were all top-quality Sitrus Berries.
If you converted them into human valuables, they were worth several pounds of gold.
"Alakazam."
(Excellent. A pleasure doing business.)
Alakazam tucked away the Sitrus Berries with Telekinesis.
Then it closed its eyes, and psychic power erupted outward.
The stealth suit was shredded into pieces, then caught fire in the heated current of energy and turned into drifting black ash.
A scene appeared before the three humanoid Pokémon.
In the back alley of some towering tech building, the Team Rocket grunt who had escaped was climbing out of a manhole, smugly brushing the dust off himself.
"Alakazam..."
(I found it... This place... I think it's what humans call Silph Co.)
Alakazam opened its eyes and told them what it had seen.
"Machamp..."
(Silph Co.? Good grief. Isn't that the place that makes Poké Balls? Why would Team Rocket be there?)
Machamp looked stunned.
Grey had brought them there before.
It was a place that manufactured Poké Balls.
"Conkeldurr."
(If they're hiding in a place like that, maybe we should wait until the boss gets back?)
Conkeldurr was not familiar with Kanto. In a situation like this, it genuinely had no idea what the right move was.
"Machamp."
(No. If it were some ordinary matter, maybe I'd let it slide. But this time they came out to chase an Eevee.)
Machamp was meticulous.
Judging from how close that Eevee had been to death, there was a good chance some kind of inhumane experiment was being carried out inside Silph Co.
And if that was the case, there was no way they could ignore it.
"Conkeldurr."
(Machamp, then what do we do now?)
"Machamp."
(Simple. We may not be strong enough, but we can call for backup.)
Machamp chose to call in reinforcements.
Ideally, they needed to infiltrate Silph Co. without anyone noticing.
But there was one problem.
Almost everyone in the Fighting Dojo was huge. Under those circumstances, sneaking into Silph Co. was almost impossible.
Forget it.
Better to head back first and think it through.
...
...
Saffron City, Fighting Dojo.
When Machamp and Conkeldurr returned, they found that the atmosphere had become very tense.
A crowd of Pokémon was gathered around that pitiful Eevee, and their eyes were full of fury.
"Damn it, are the Team Rocket members in Kanto even human?"
Terrakion fumed, coarse language pouring out of its mouth without restraint.
This time, Cobalion and Virizion did not stop Terrakion from cursing.
They could no longer suppress the anger in their own eyes either. All they wanted was to go fight Team Rocket to the death.
"This is horrible! They turned Eevee into this. How dare they treat a living creature like a tool and experiment on it however they want!"
Keldeo could not suppress its anger either. It wanted to charge out and blow Team Rocket apart.
The problem was...
Where were the Team Rocket members?
"Machamp."
(Everyone, I just went to ask Master Alakazam. We found where Team Rocket disappeared to. It should be their hideout.)
Machamp strode in.
Conkeldurr followed right behind.
The appearance of the two big bruisers drew everyone's attention at once.
"Hurry up and tell me where Team Rocket is! I'm going there right now to wipe them out!"
Terrakion wanted to tear the Team Rocket members to pieces.
Honestly, what it had just said was exactly what every Pokémon in the dojo wanted to say.
It had become their voice.
"Wait. I think it would be better to deal with this after Grey comes back. If you rush in without a trainer and you do find Team Rocket, great, everyone's happy. But if you don't find anything and instead end up interfering with Poké Ball development, if that blame gets pinned on us, Grey's contribution points are probably getting wiped to zero."
Bumiao was relatively steady-headed.
She thought more carefully than the others.
"How can we wait? What if Team Rocket does another experiment while we're waiting? Wouldn't that mean more Pokémon could end up dying?"
Terrakion did not even want to imagine how many Pokémon might die at Team Rocket's hands during that time.
Cobalion, Virizion, and Keldeo, all sword-bearing Pokémon with hearts full of justice, nodded one after another.
"I know you're all worried about those Pokémon, and I'm worried too, but please calm down. Once Grey gets back, everything will definitely be okay."
Knock, knock, knock...
At that moment, someone knocked on the door.
Bumiao turned and went to the entrance. When she opened it, she saw someone she had not expected.
Nelly.
The former front desk girl from the Silph Pokémon Battle Club.
"Nelly, what are you doing here?"
Bumiao knew Nelly fairly well, so she immediately pulled her inside.
"Silph Co... I think it's been infiltrated by Team Rocket."
The moment Nelly stepped in, she told everyone exactly that.
"What?!"
They already knew it, but hearing it confirmed by someone who was half an employee of Silph Co. still felt unbelievable.
"N-Nelly, are you sure?"
Bumiao suddenly felt a chill run through her.
That only made her even more determined to wait until Grey got back before settling accounts with Team Rocket.
"I'm sure. I personally saw Team Rocket members entering Silph Co. through the back door of the battle club over the past few days..."
Nelly had quit her front desk job, but because the restaurant where she worked now was close to the club, and she kept passing by it all the time, she had naturally seen what they were doing.
"I already told you, we should just charge in and blow them up. My heart of justice won't kill innocent people. We can explain afterward, can't we?"
Terrakion's thinking was very simple.
Use its sense of justice to feel out whether someone was evil or not.
If they were evil, cut them down.
Bumiao: "..."
Just cut them down...
"I'm calling Grey first. I'll ask what he thinks. If he agrees to let you all go to Silph Co., then I won't have anything else to say."
Bumiao sighed. No matter what, Grey had to know about this.
"Fine."
Terrakion had no objection.
It was convinced that if it were Grey, he would definitely agree with its plan.
...
...
Meanwhile, over in Unova, night had fallen.
Tepig had begun practicing Sleeping Arhat Fist in its sleep, and from the look on its face, something seemed off.
"Is it having a nightmare? Though honestly, for it, that should be a good thing."
Grey had seen what Sleeping Arhat Fist looked like during nightmares before. In a state like this, the level gains were especially fast.
Normally, at low levels, Sleeping Arhat Fist could only raise a Pokémon about three levels in one night.
But in a nightmare state, it could go up by as many as five.
Back when he had caught Torchic and Shroomish, it had still taken a full week for them to finish evolving.
Once tonight's Nightmare Sleeping Arhat Fist ended, Tepig would probably reach level ten.
Ring, ring, ring...
His phone started ringing.
Grey paused.
Looking down, he saw that Bumiao was calling.
After picking up, he lowered his voice. "Hello? Why are you calling this late? It's already past midnight on my side."
"Grey, Grey, there's something really important I need to tell you! Silph Co. has been infiltrated by Team Rocket!"
Bumiao hurriedly explained the whole chain of events to him.
"..."
After hearing her out, Grey's brows furrowed tightly.
This was a tricky one.
If he were there in person, that would be one thing.
But the problem was, he did not know how deeply Silph Co. had been compromised.
And there were surveillance cameras everywhere in there. The second he set foot inside, he would definitely be spotted.
Hmm...
If only he had a Pokémon that could turn people invisible.
Wait.
Invisible?
Grey thought of Victini and Meloetta.
Those two little ones could turn invisible.
The only question was whether they could make other Pokémon invisible too.
If they could, then he could just send them back.
"Hold on a second. I need to ask about something on my end. If what I'm thinking works, then I think you all can handle this yourselves."
Grey pulled the phone away from his ear.
Then he asked Meloetta and Victini whether they could pull off invisibility for others.
"Victini!"
(If it's just me, making other people invisible is kind of difficult. But if I give my power to Meloetta, then it's easy.)
A healer could not heal itself. Victini could raise the power of other Pokémon, but it could not raise its own power.
Making others invisible on its own was difficult.
But if it gave power to Meloetta and let Meloetta handle making the other Pokémon invisible, then there would definitely be no problem.
"Nice. So what do you think, want to go do something big? Don't worry, I'll send Annihilape... no, forget that. I'll send Reshiram over instead."
Grey suddenly felt a twinge of unease. If he sent Annihilape, there was a chance things might not end cleanly.
So instead, he decided to send Reshiram directly.
"Victini!"
(No problem, absolutely no problem! If Reshiram comes too, then I think this operation is definitely going to succeed!)
Victini nodded excitedly.
Reshiram was amazing.
If Grey were willing, it would even suggest bringing Kyurem too.
That way, even if villains from all over came swarming in, they might not win, but at least they could all get away cleanly and leave no trace behind.
"Good."
Grey nodded, picked up his phone again, and said to Bumiao, "I'm sending you some backup. When the time comes, take it easy. As long as nothing goes seriously wrong, there won't be a problem."
After hanging up, Grey thought it over and still decided to send Lance a message.
[Annihilape Dojo: Elite Four Lance, Silph Co. has seemed a little strange lately. Looks like Team Rocket members may have infiltrated it, and it's already affected my Pokémon.]
[Annihilape Dojo: So Saffron City might get a little messy over the next few days. I wanted to give you a heads-up in advance.]
Only a few seconds later, Lance replied.
[Dragon Master Lance: No problem. The League has noticed Silph Co. too. Gym Leader Grey, go ahead and handle it. Even if it all turns out to be a misunderstanding, I'll smooth it over for you.]
[Dragon Master Lance: So go ahead and do what you need to do. The League will always be your solid backing.]
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