"Boom"
"Hey, how much longer until we're done sorting this stuff out? It's been half a day already. Why are we still dragging our feet?"
As Silas and his team crept closer to the warehouse, two Team Rocket grunts patrolling outside were chatting idly.
"Who knows? We just wait until the boss gives the word," said one grunt with a mushroom-shaped haircut.
From the tone of his voice, it was clear he didn't have much respect for his so-called leader.
"I don't get why the higher-ups sent us out here to this dead place. There's no one around! They should've sent us to the Seafoam Islands — that place actually needs more manpower."
The other grunt, who sported a red mohawk, sighed as he idly patted the Weezing hovering beside him.
"I actually heard something about that," Mushroom Head replied, leaning against the warehouse door and lighting a cigarette. "Apparently, once we're done here, we're heading somewhere else. Sounds like there's another mission waiting."
"Careful," Mohawk said, flicking his lighter and lighting his own cigarette. "Don't let your Pokémon smell it. Or worse — someone spots us out here tonight."
The two shared a laugh.
"Come on, who would show up here? By the time anyone does, we'll be long gone. The League's Special Forces are probably on edge thinking we'll attack the Seafoam Islands instead."
Mohawk exhaled a ring of smoke, then pulled a blood pack from his jacket and fed it to his Golbat perched on his shoulder.
"Take a rest, buddy. You don't need to keep using Supersonic that frequently," he said softly.
Golbat narrowed its eyes in contentment, savoring the synthetic blood substitute. Thanks to modern tech, the flavor was even more appealing to it.
"Hey," Mushroom Head said, glancing at the Golbat with a hint of envy, "isn't there supposed to be an evolved form of Golbat?"
Back when he was a rookie, Zubat had been considered much more dangerous than Koffing. When he joined Team Rocket, he didn't dare choose one, afraid the little bat would sink its fangs into him.
At least Koffing's gas attacks gave you a bit of warning — a Zubat's bite could kill before you even realized it.
But once Zubat evolved into Golbat, it became far more useful in combat, and its strength wasn't to be underestimated.
Compared to that, Weezing didn't seem quite as good.
"Yeah," said Mohawk smugly. "I actually asked Lance himself during a mission once. He hinted that there is another evolution. After this job, I should have enough contribution points to get that information."
If Golbat could evolve again, his strength would skyrocket — maybe he could even become a Team Rocket Elite Squad Leader.
They leaned on the railing, chatting lazily.
"Ziiyaa—!"
"Waaagh!"
Golbat and Weezing suddenly shrieked.
At that very moment, the massive energy wave created by the Surf attacks from Silas's twelve Water-type Pokémon shattered Alakazam's illusion field in an instant.
The two Pokémon, seasoned by many battles, reacted immediately.
"Click!"
Mohawk turned his head just as he was talking to his friend. The strange cries from his Pokémon made him instinctively slap the emergency alarm on his belt.
"Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep—!"
Inside the warehouse, the red warning lights flashed to life.
"Unit Thirty-Seven, what's going on out there?" The squad leader shouted into his communicator while frantically ordering the researchers to finish packing the last of their equipment.
But there was no reply from the other end.
"League attack. Flood. Retreat."
That message came from the monitoring room — short, but enough to make the leader's face pale.
He immediately switched to the full channel. "All units, retreat! Take the research data and split up! Use all five evacuation routes! Repeat — full retreat!"
His expression darkened. The League was getting bolder by the day.
Flooding the entire facility just to raid it — they clearly didn't care about the data inside.
Even though the two guards outside were difficult to deal with, their Pokémon had been heavily modified — easily at Advance Level Trainer, nearly Elite-tier.
If they hadn't responded by now… they were probably gone.
But what the leader didn't know was that the League's forces this time were far more intense than he imagined.
"Move, move! Don't just stand there!"
He barked orders as he stood by one of the escape tunnels, feeling the water rising from his ankles to his knees.
"Damn it! Next time, I'm making sure they don't build a warehouse in a swamp. There's nowhere for the water to drain!"
He muttered irritably.
Despite the chaos, everything was still organized. There was panic, yes — but controlled panic.
He wasn't too worried. He even thought about lighting another cigarette.
"Zzzzzzt—!"
Suddenly, electricity crackled across the water.
"Gaaah—!"
His scream came out distorted — the voltage was that strong.
"Splash—Crash—!"
The sound of data drives and paper files falling into the water echoed around the room.
"Unbelievable… they're playing dirty," he gasped, body twitching as the electricity numbed his nerves.
In the Pokémon world, people have some resistance to Pokémon attacks — but not infinite.
The real danger wasn't the water or electricity, but the lack of air once the room flooded completely.
He gritted his teeth and barked an order through the pain.
"Keep… moving!"
Twenty-two people total. Sixteen combatants, six researchers.
Aside from himself and the head researcher, everyone else had already split into three-man teams to escape through separate tunnels.
"Mari… last check… if confirmed, we're leaving through Route Five," he said to the middle-aged man next to him, voice trembling from the electric surges.
The researcher's body spasmed with arcs of electricity, his words broken and slurred: "I… I… can't… it's… fire…"
"Fire… you mean… fire them?"
The team leader froze for a second, confused.
Even with his experience, he couldn't figure out what the researcher was trying to say.
The middle-aged researcher looked utterly hopeless, how do you deal with a teammate this dense?
He was certain of one thing: judging by the League's brutal methods outside, what came next was exactly what he feared.
Outside the Warehouse
A Swampert stood tall in the floodwater, holding up two unconscious Team Rocket grunts — the ones with the red mohawk and the mushroom haircut.
At this point, though, it was hard to tell which was which; their hair was plastered flat against their heads from the water's impact.
Their Pokémon — Golbat and Weezing — hovered nearby, suspended midair by a faint psychic glow of blue and violet.
Both had cartoonish spiral eyes, clearly knocked out.
"Clean it up," Silas said calmly, fishing out the two grunts' Poké Balls and tossing them toward Jun Sato.
Jun caught them effortlessly and passed them to his Alakazam, who neatly returned the Golbat and Weezing to their Poké Balls and even locked them with a flick of psychic energy.
The process was so smooth it looked rehearsed.
The group exchanged looks.
Yeah… this clearly wasn't the first time they'd done this.
"I think… that's enough?"
Yuji glanced at his panting Electivire, hesitantly suggesting.
"Yeah, we should wrap it up soon. If we wait too long, the rest of them might get away," someone added.
Everyone instinctively turned toward Silas.
"No rush. Just a little longer," he replied, checking his watch with a calm smile.
He was thinking to himself, Don't go soft now…
The eldest among them, Hirokuni Silph, was the first to understand.
"Do you really have to do this?" he said, half-laughing.
At first, he'd thought the youngest in their squad was a ruthless fighter — the type to finish off enemies without hesitation.
It had even startled him.
Are rookie Trainers this savage nowadays?
Turns out, the kid was just… having fun.
Silas arched an eyebrow. "Just in a mood. I figured I'd set off some fireworks — make it exciting."
Exactly as Hirokuni guessed, he had no intention of killing the Rocket members.
He could have, but there was no need.
Being ruthless wasn't something to be proud of.
He just wanted to blow up the place — nothing more.
And that made all the difference.
Electrolysis had split the water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Together, in a confined environment, a spark would ignite them into an explosive mixture.
The result — a massive blast.
He didn't need to explain what that meant. Everyone there understood.
Even if people in this world had some resistance to Pokémon attacks, a close-range explosion like that could still be fatal.
But if they waited until the Rocket agents had escaped before triggering it, the reduced pressure would just knock them out — not kill them.
"How's it looking, Jun?" Silas turned toward Jun Sato, who was linked telepathically with his Alakazam.
"Alakazam says they're clear," Jun reported.
Now he understood why Silas had told Alakazam to monitor the people inside.
It wasn't to stop them from escaping — it was to make sure no one got caught in the blast by mistake.
Silas nodded, beginning his final preparations.
Meanwhile, at the opposite side of the base, the Rocket leader — now carrying Researcher Mari on his back — looked uneasy.
"You're sure the enemy's that ruthless?" he muttered.
He wasn't stupid — the strange shift in the air told him enough.
He immediately understood what Mari had been trying to warn him about.
He'd panicked and ordered a full retreat without even salvaging the data.
But now that everyone had gotten out, he couldn't help but frown.
"They still haven't detonated?"
Mari, still twitching from the aftershocks, rolled her eyes where he couldn't see.
You really want them to blow us up? I'm not ready to die yet, idiot.
"Run… just… run…" she croaked out painfully.
At that same moment—
"Use Flamethrower! Let's light up the sky, everyone!"
Silas's voice rang out clearly.
"Fwoooosh—!"
Six Fire-type Pokémon unleashed blazing streams of fire into the air.
And in the next heartbeat—
"BOOOOM!!!"
The explosion roared through the night sky, echoing across the island like thunder.
"Wow…"
All sixteen League members stared, mouths hanging open, eyes wide.
"Not gonna lie… that's pretty," murmured Yezo, his voice nearly drowned out by the blast.
But everyone heard it and nodded in silent agreement.
Against the dark backdrop of the night, the fiery bloom was dazzling.
And thanks to the protective barrier formed by their Pokémon, they could safely watch the spectacle up close.
....
Hi For access to additional chapters of
Director in Hollywood (40 chpaters)
Made In Hollywood (60 Chapters)
Pokemon:Bounty Hunter(30 Chapters)
Douluo Dalu: Reincarnated as Yan(40 Chapters)
Hollywood:From Razzie to Legend(40 Chapters)
The Great Ruler(30 Chapters)
Join pateron.com/Translaterappu