Gladion gritted his teeth and mumbled. "We have been had."
"What do you mean, Gladion?" Latios asked. Confusion filled his mental voice.
Gladion's face darkened with anger. "The visible trail. The incubators. Why would Giovanni buy so many incubators? He could have let the eggs stay hidden or destroyed them. Also why buy some for certain Pokémon and not others? Why not make it harder for us to find out about Team rocket buying so many incubators? It was all planned. He left clues on purpose so we would follow them straight here."
Latios listened carefully.
"We thought Team Rocket had gotten sloppy," Gladion continued. "Such a big operation, and they made obvious mistakes. But it was not sloppy at all. Giovanni wanted us to find this base. He wanted us to attack it and destroy it for him."
Latios sounded surprised. "Why would he want his own men destroyed? Are they not Team Rocket? Did we just kill innocents?"
Gladion clenched his fists. "That is the question that bothers me the most."
Latios asked another question, "And this Giovanni, you told me he wanted power and had obsession with legendary Pokemon. He could have had a loyal legendary Pokemon in the form of a baby Moltres. Why would he give up on it?"
Gladion thought for a moment before answering the second part first. "About the Moltres egg. Giovanni wants power now. A baby legendary would take decades to grow strong. Giovanni is not patient. He wants results fast for his plans. A newborn Moltres would be useless to him for years."
Latios accepted that answer.
Gladion went on to think about Latios first question. "But these men here are definitely Team Rocket. The uniforms. The Pokémon. The way they fought. They are definitely not innocents. Yet they looked shocked when they saw the eggs. They did not know thousands of stolen eggs were hidden under their own base."
Latias joined the conversation. "Maybe it was a secret operation with only a few trusted members?"
Gladion shook his head. "No. Stealing eggs from so many places needed many people. Yet none of the grunts here were part of it. Hundreds of them lived here, and from the looks of things not one knew about the eggs. Giovanni sent us to wipe out his own base for some reason."
Only one explanation made sense.
'Are there different factions inside Team Rocket?' Gladion thought. 'Giovanni might want full control of the organisation of there were multiple fractions within team rocket. I always believed Team Rocket was united under him. But maybe there is another leader. Someone with power over so many grunts.'
He tried to remember details from stories and games. But sadly he was more of the anime guy rather than games and manga.
'Is it Blaine? Did he betray Giovanni and thus Giovanni wanted to get rid of him? No, he can't be the one. Blaine focuses on research. He would not want to be the leader anyways. Giovanni would never give him control of so many men either."
Gladion rejected his own idea. 'None of this makes sense. It's too complicated. Maybe these captured grunts would have some useful information but who am I kidding, Giovanni would have let them get captured or be in this base if they knew anything useful that could implicate him. Sneaky baatard.'
He looked at the captured grunts and the destroyed buildings. "This does not change the fact that we have been tricked. We cannot tell others the full truth either. I cannot say we attacked the wrong faction of Team Rocket. They would ask how I knew. They would demand proof I do not have. I can't just say Giovanni is the leader of team rocket and this was all his plan to attack this base."
Latias spoke gently. "Do not be sad, little brother. Look at the good side. You found all the eggs. You kept your promise with Moltres. And these men are still criminals. They are part of Team Rocket like you said. So we just got rid of many criminals for Indigo. And losing this base and so many members will hurt this Giovanni badly."
Gladion nodded slowly. She was right.
Latios added. "Now that the world knows about us, Giovanni or any other human cannot act openly anymore. He will fear your power and fear us."
Gladion felt a little better. "You are both right. But something worries me more."
"I think Giovanni knows that I suspect him. He knows I believe he leads Team Rocket, or at least controls a large part of it."
Gladion's eyes hardened. 'This trap was personal. He wanted me to waste strength here. He wanted me to reveal my full power. Now he knows about Mega Evolution and about big sister and brother. He even used me for whatever he wanted.'
Gladion shook his head as he focused on the approaching people. He still had to deal with them.
Gladion sighed as he waited for them with his legendary partners. He had completed for what he came here for. The eggs were safe. The grunts were captured and dealt with. But the real enemy had escaped again.
-----Author Notes------
Thankyou Chartso_ for supporting me!
Y'all can read 20 extra chapters on my pat*reon.
https://pat reon.com/mrmime24
[No Space in pat*reon]
Thankyou for your support!