If Green were here, she could probably handle this quickly. However, Ryuuske wasn't very knowledgeable in this area. Fortunately, the wavelength signals were all intact—all he needed to do was find a professional to input the signals into the device.
"I need to hurry to Celadon City…"
Ryuuske muttered to himself as he closed the document. Since he had discovered such a miraculous Pokémon, he had to act fast. If someone else accidentally captured that Eevee, he'd have no one to cry to.
Ryuuske had always been a man of action. Once he made a decision, he immediately began packing his things.
"Leaving already?"
Gary, who had been quietly resting nearby, looked up and asked.
"Something urgent came up. I'm heading to Celadon City first. Gary, take your time recovering in Lavender Town. We'll meet again at the Indigo Plateau Conference."
"Then see you at the Indigo Plateau Conference."
Gary waved him off. He was never one for many words and preferred to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Once he had packed everything he needed, Ryuuske bid Gary farewell and quickly left the hotel.
He hurried toward the road leading to Celadon City. Some of the townsfolk in Lavender Town had come to recognize him and greeted him as he passed. Ryuuske smiled and returned their greetings. When he reached the house where Agatha had invited him before, he suddenly stopped.
"Huh?"
Ryuuske stared in surprise at the building before him. Instead of the aged but well-kept cottage he had seen before, what stood before him was a dilapidated, long-abandoned villa overgrown with weeds.
"Excuse me, sir, may I ask how long this house has been abandoned?"
Just then, an elderly man happened to walk by, and Ryuuske quickly approached him to ask.
The old man glanced at Ryuuske, then at the derelict house. "...This place hasn't been lived in for many years. For various reasons, it was never torn down. I can't remember exactly how long it's been, but now it's become a playground for the local kids. They call it the 'Ghost House.'"
The old man shook his head, as if disapproving of the children's antics. Lavender Town was already a place with heavy spiritual energy, and giving a house the name "Ghost House" only made it even more ominous.
Ryuuske shuddered. He clearly remembered staying here with Sabrina two days ago—back then, the house hadn't looked like this at all. Though a bit old, it had been cozy and well-furnished. At the time, both he and Sabrina had found the place strange but couldn't pinpoint why. Now, it seemed this really might have been Agatha's "Ghost House."
The thought of having cooked and eaten here made his stomach churn. He couldn't help but wonder if the food had been like something out of a horror movie—disgusting things disguised as normal meals.
Shaking his head, he quickly dismissed the unsettling thought. Agatha was still a human being, after all. She probably wasn't *that* twisted.
Quickening his pace, he left the eerie house behind and summoned his Gabite, heading straight for Celadon City at top speed.
——
Celadon City was the second-largest metropolis in the Kanto region, surpassed only by Saffron City in scale. It was the equivalent of Kanto's "New York" or "Tokyo"—a bustling international hub filled with towering skyscrapers and endless streams of traffic. For Ryuuske, the city felt familiar. Before his transmigration, he had lived in a similarly massive urban center, and Celadon City matched his memories perfectly.
The city was divided into northern and southern districts. The northern district was primarily residential, dominated by older-style apartment buildings where locals lived. The southern district, however, was the economic heart of Celadon City, home to luxury brand stores and frequented by tourists and trainers from all over the world.
Celadon City was most famous for two industries: gambling and perfume. One attracted countless gamblers eager to spend their money, while the other was every woman's dream—fragrance. With these two major economic drivers, it was no surprise Celadon City thrived.
Upon arriving, Ryuuske skipped the Pokémon Center and immediately pulled some strings to find a tech-savvy specialist. He had them input the wavelength signals from the document into a tracking device. For someone skilled in this field, it was a simple task—completed in less than half an hour.
Stepping out of the slightly run-down office building, Ryuuske eagerly turned on the signal tracker—a palm-sized device designed solely for locating the Eevee.
"Huh?"
The moment he activated the device and saw the signal, Ryuuske froze. To his surprise, the Eevee was still within Celadon City's borders!
The lab where the Eevee had been experimented on was located in Celadon City. After the facility was destroyed, Ryuuske had assumed the Eevee would have fled far away. Yet, contrary to his expectations, it hadn't left.
"Lucky~~ I thought I'd have to scour the entire Kanto region for this Eevee, but it's right in the outskirts of Celadon City. This saves me a ton of time."
With precise coordinates in hand, Ryuuske's face lit up with excitement, and he immediately set off in pursuit.
...
"That boy went after the Eevee. How did he know where it was, my lady?"
In an archery dojo, a man dressed like a servant knelt on the wooden floor, addressing a young girl practicing kyūdō in front of him.
The girl rolled up her sleeves, revealing slender, jade-like arms. With a focused expression, she drew her bow, adjusted her aim, and released—the arrow struck the bullseye dead center.
"He must have obtained the wavelength code from the Eevee's signal transmitter."
After firing, the girl carefully set her bow aside and stepped gracefully across the wooden floor in her tabi socks. Her tone was calm and measured, exuding quiet confidence.
"The wavelength code? We wouldn't even know about that if we hadn't raided Team Rocket's secret research base. How did *he* find out?"
The kneeling man's confusion deepened.
"There are reports that the boy recently appeared in Lavender Town alongside Sabrina. They even battled someone at the infamous 'Pokémon Tower.' He likely obtained the Eevee's data from Sabrina."
The girl pressed her lips together softly as she spoke. Her demeanor was elegant, every word deliberate and unhurried.
"You don't think those tabloid rumors about him and Sabrina are true, do you? If we hadn't obtained so much intel from Team Rocket's base, we'd never have guessed the Saffron City Gym Leader was one of their executives. If he's connected to Sabrina, we absolutely can't let him find the Eevee!"
The man's expression darkened.
"It's hard to say. But I trust Misty's judgment… Very well, I'll go personally and assess the situation."
The girl frowned slightly, lost in thought for a moment before making her decision.
To be continued…
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