"Nidoqueen! Tear him to shreds!"
Yuli's eyes all but spat fire.
Beside her, Nidoqueen, frantic to protect its Trainer, opened its jaws and brewed a massive fireball.
Heat rolled out in waves, the air around it warping!
"Primeape—finish this fast."
Grey didn't even spare it a glance. He snapped his fingers.
Bang!
Primeape drove out a Rage Fist—
cold, ghostly light burst forth; the swollen fist smashed square into Nidoqueen's face, Ghost-type power punching straight through its body!
As for the Flamethrower building in its throat?
Under Rage Fist, it snuffed out before it could form…
Hit clean, Nidoqueen shot back just like Nidoking had—only this time it slammed into Yuli mid-flight and blasted them both out of the tent.
They crashed down with a heavy thud.
Team Rocket outside: ???
A passing grunt stared at Yuli lying there like a dead Growlithe.
"Su—Supervisor Yuli, what happened?!"
A female member crouched and poked Yuli's cheek. "Did you and Captain Daisuke get in a fight or something?"
"?"
Hearing that, Yuli looked up at the worried face and nearly coughed blood.
"Enemy attack! Run! Split up—move!"
Snarling, she whipped a Poké Ball from her belt and hurled it into the tent. "The intel must be destroyed! Weezing—Self-Destruct!!"
A two-headed Weezing flared with white light, terrible energy swelling to the brink—
if it went off in time, every plan sheet in that tent would be obliterated!
"Good, good, go boom…"
Yuli laughed like a maniac, already picturing Grey buried in the blast along with the paperwork.
Sha-sha-sha—
A faint patter, like powder sifting down.
Her grin froze, then faded into panic.
The white glow guttered on Weezing's body; that dreadful pressure bled away.
The next instant, it sagged, crashed to the dirt, and began snoring.
"Asleep?!"
Eyes wide, Yuli whipped her head toward the tent.
A Breloom stepped out, unhurried.
From the slits by its cap, clouds of powder kept billowing.
She got it now—the culprit putting Weezing to sleep was this Breloom!
"Nice work."
Grey tossed it a few words of praise, then looked to Yuli. "Hands up and surrender—otherwise I beat you down and haul you to the League for trial."
"You think grabbing me—"
"Raaalts!"
Ralts popped up from who-knows-where and, mid-speech, smacked the other side of Yuli's face with Knock Off!
Smack!
Another ringing slap!
One cheek ballooned up like a puffy Piloswine.
Her tough talk died on impact.
Head tipped back, Yuli couldn't get a word out for a long beat.
Half-lidded, Grey swept his gaze over the Rockets bolting without a backward glance.
"You look like you're counting on them to get away."
Yuli didn't answer.
Grey found that boring and said softly, "Shame. Back then—and right now—I've already got a dragnet laid."
"Run? Hah. Not happening."
Dazzling flames flared in the distance.
Under the noon sun, they shone even brighter.
As a chorus of Rocket screams rose, Yuli's brows knit tight.
"Team Rocket won't let you go!"
"From the first day I crossed paths with Team Rocket, I never planned to let you go."
Looking down at Yuli from above, Grey clasped his hands behind his back and turned away.
"He's… letting me go?"
Baffled, Yuli scrambled to her feet.
Then—
"Bre-loom~" (Hee-hee~)
Grinning, Breloom flicked its head. Spore scattered like flower petals on the wind.
Yuli didn't notice and inhaled a lungful.
She dropped like a stone.
Breloom hoisted her up and hopped after Grey.
Of course, Nidoking and Nidoqueen didn't get a pass either.
Primeape lugged one in each hand, ambling along without a care.
The scene was… indescribable.
Off in the distance, the battle had tipped hard toward Officer Jenny's side.
With their strongest—Yuli—flattened in two punches by Grey's Primeape, the small fry had only one play if they wanted to live: run.
Most didn't even think to resist.
"Wartortle—just like that! Water Pulse them down!"
Green giggled as she called shots, knocking them over one by one.
Wartortle was having a blast, twirling spirals of water in its hands like bowling balls. Against this mob of Rockets, it was easy mode.
In minutes, anything it tagged went down on the spot.
The lucky few who slipped past Wartortle's range soon got hauled back in the jaws of Officer Jenny's Arcanine.
And with that, every Rocket at Mt. Moon was in cuffs.
"Clean, simple—and a bonus haul."
Hands in his pockets, Grey debriefed with Officer Jenny.
He pulled the stack of seized Rocket plans from his pack and handed them over. "I bet this is just the tip of the iceberg. The League should keep its eyes peeled, or Team Rocket will slip deeper roots."
Officer Jenny took the documents, skimmed, and her face blanched.
"They're really targeting the S.S. Anne?!"
"Yeah—but I doubt it's only the S.S. Anne."
Grey rubbed his chin and laid out his take:
"The top dog here couldn't last a few punches from Primeape. If someone at this level already knows about the S.S. Anne op, Team Rocket probably isn't treating it as their main effort."
"So, Gym Leader Grey, you mean…?"
"I think they're using small to bait big—pick a world-class cruise to force the League to pour resources into guarding the S.S. Anne."
Grey stared into the distance. "Then they use the window to push on softer targets elsewhere and keep infiltrating Kanto."
"Ugh…"
It clicked for Officer Jenny, and the logic made her seethe.
"For the near term, we'll tighten security around Cerulean."
"Good."
She nodded, cuffed the last Rockets, and loaded them into the patrol cars.
—
Another bumpy ride later, near three in the afternoon, they rolled back into Cerulean City.
Grey and Green hopped out at the station.
Officer Jenny said the precinct had a reward for them.
"I wonder how big the cash bonus will be~"
At the thought of prize money, Green couldn't hide her grin.
Three minutes of eager waiting later—
Officer Jenny emerged with the rewards.
Along with a commendation banner… was a Pokémon Egg…
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