However, he pushed a few times with all his might, but saw no sign of the grunt waking up.
Startled, just as he was about to shout, he suddenly sensed a noise behind him. He turned his head quickly, only to see a dark, round, large face right in front of his.
Before he could even scream, a wide, thick tongue, slick with a bit of drool, had already licked his face.
Instantly, he felt the world spin, and just like his partner, he fainted and collapsed on the ground.
"Ghehehe…" Gastly chuckled maliciously, "Enjoy the nightmare!"
After taking care of the two Team Rocket Grunts, Gastly looked around at the various surveillance monitors. It formed a Shadow Ball and hurled it at the main console. In the next second, with a crackle of sparks, rows of screens all went dark.
"That should do it."
Looking at its handiwork, Gastly nodded in satisfaction. Just as it was about to disappear, the walkie-talkie on the side suddenly crackled to life.
"Control room? I think I just heard something. What happened over there?"
Gastly's body began to change, eventually transforming into the likeness of the grunt from before.
It picked up the walkie-talkie and, using the original owner's voice and tone, replied: "Reporting. Everything is normal here. That noise just now was me accidentally bumping into a chair."
"Is that so." The person on the other end of the walkie-talkie didn't suspect a thing. "Continue surveillance!"
...
In the fifteenth-floor office, Natsui peeked into the hallway again. Seeing that the red light on the security camera was off, he knew Gastly had succeeded. He waved to Sabrina, and the two of them quickly headed towards the staircase.
In this situation, they certainly wouldn't dare take the elevator. If they were discovered, there would be no way to retreat.
However, they unexpectedly hit a snag. Just as they were about to reach the staircase, the sound of chaotic footsteps suddenly came from within.
Natsui's heart skipped a beat. The footsteps were so close, it seemed they would meet in an instant. Because they had already come so far, there was definitely no time to return to the previous room.
Before he could even react, Sabrina grabbed his sleeve and pulled him into a nearby room.
They had just closed the door when they heard several people exit the staircase and arrive on their floor!
They exchanged a glance. Both of them knew they were still far from the top floor and they could not afford to be discovered. They turned their heads at the same time, looking for a place to hide.
This room seemed to be a lounge area for the Silph Co. It had a few pool tables and sofas, with potted plants in the corners. And at the very back, a row of tall lockers stood side-by-side.
They hurried to the lockers and tried to pull the doors open, but after trying several in a row, they were all locked!
Just as Sabrina was about to use her psychic power to open a lock, Natsui happened to open one of the doors. Seeing that this locker was just big enough to hide them both, and hearing the footsteps getting closer, Sabrina didn't have time to think and jumped inside first.
Natsui took out a Poké Ball, returned Kirlia, and also squeezed into the locker.
But no matter how big the locker was, it was still a bit crowded for two people. Natsui and Sabrina were pressed close together, their limbs inevitably touching. They could even feel each other's breath on their faces.
But at that moment, neither had time to dwell on it. As the door to the lounge opened, several Team Rocket Grunts slowly walked in.
One of them was heard saying: "Everyone, search carefully. We can't afford to miss anyone!"
"Hey, Captain," someone replied, "didn't we already search the whole building once? Why are we searching it again?"
"You fool," the captain scolded. "This company is huge, and those researchers are cunning. There could be stragglers hiding anywhere. Our plan cannot fail. Keep your eyes peeled and search again, carefully!"
The footsteps drew nearer. One of the Team Rocket Grunts walked up to the lockers and pulled on a door, but it didn't open. He shook it forcefully, and after confirming it wouldn't open, he moved on to the next one.
Several in a row were locked. When he reached the one Natsui was in, Natsui's heart sank, and he was already preparing to burst out and attack. However, when the Team Rocket Grunt pulled on the door, he found that, just like the others, it wouldn't budge.
"Why are they all locked," the Team Rocket Grunt muttered under his breath.
Natsui was amazed and turned his head to look at Sabrina. It turned out she had used her psychic power.
The captain asked from the other side of the room: "You really can't open them? Huh? They're all locked? Then forget it, let's hurry to the next room."
"Huh?" someone complained. "Captain, let us take a break. We've been searching for several floors straight, we can't walk anymore."
"Yeah, let us rest for a bit," the other Team Rocket members chimed in.
After a moment of thought, the captain finally nodded: "Alright, then. We'll rest here for five minutes. After five minutes, we move out."
The grunts all cheered and plopped down on the sofas.
Inside the dim locker, Natsui and Sabrina remained silent. The air didn't circulate well here, and as time passed, it began to feel stuffy, and the temperature was slowly rising.
In the lounge, the Team Rocket Grunts took advantage of the rare break. As their minds went blank, they began to chat idly.
"Captain, what's the real goal of this huge operation of ours?"
As low-level grunts, they didn't know many details about the operation, but out of sheer curiosity, they wanted to use the break to get some information from their captain.
At first, the captain was reluctant to say anything, but he couldn't resist everyone's persistent questions. After a brief pause, he finally spoke.
"Alright, alright, I can't say much, but I can reveal a little something." He cleared his throat lightly and continued, "Besides this company's assets, our real target is a type of Poké Ball they're secretly developing—the Master Ball!"
"The Master Ball!?" a grunt said blankly. "What's that?"
"It's the most precious Poké Ball of all." Speaking of the Master Ball, a look of longing appeared on the captain's face. "It's said that no matter what kind of Pokémon it is, if you use this ball, you can capture it with a 100% success rate, without even needing to battle or weaken it!"
"It's that amazing!?" The Team Rocket members were all stunned.
"Of course it is." The captain laughed. "Otherwise, why would we at Team Rocket go to such great lengths to take over this place? If we can really get our hands on this Master Ball, then catching powerful and rare Pokémon will no longer be just a dream!"
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