"That look in your eyes is a little rude."
Damian noticed Gladion's gaze and raised a brow.
"Don't underestimate us evil organizations. We're on the cutting edge too. This app was built by a top-tier researcher I hired—feature-complete."
Damian spoke with pride. It was his idea, so even when Team Rocket members were out in the field, they could hand off tasks anytime.
"I'm also planning to add a group chat. That way our Team Rocket executives can share notes day-to-day, and quick meetings can be done over video. No more long trips."
"Gladion, put your back into it. With your ability, you'll make executive in no time."
Damian patted Gladion's shoulder with a smile.
"…" Gladion didn't know what to say.
Team Rocket felt… different from what he'd imagined.
Wasn't this an evil organization? Why did it feel like onboarding at a company?
"Right—take a look. These are some of the best Pokémon currently in the organization."
Damian scrolled to the bottom of the exchange page and showed Gladion.
Gladion leaned in, very interested.
Pseudo-legendary Dratini — Ability: Shed Skin — redeem merit 50,000.
Pseudo-legendary Dratini — Ability: Marvel Scale — redeem merit 50,000.
Pseudo-legendary Larvitar — Ability: Guts — redeem merit 50,000.
Pseudo-legendary Jangmo-o — Ability: Overcoat — redeem merit 50,000.
Mythical Pokémon Phione — Ability: Hydration — redeem merit 100,000.
Gladion felt the heat rise. Pseudo-legendary Pokémon—also called "late bloomers"—were incredibly rare and precious.
They took much longer to raise than normal Pokémon, but once they hit their final forms? Totally worth it.
Especially high-talent pseudo-legendaries—they were hard to come by. But in Team Rocket, with enough merit, you could redeem them directly.
Most important of all…
"Mythical Pokémon Phione?! Is this for real?"
Gladion's eyes locked on the last line. Mythical Pokémon!
A Mythical—one of the rarest in existence, bar none!
What's a legend? It means they basically only exist in stories. Almost nobody's seen them for real.
Team Rocket was actually putting a Mythical on the rewards list? That was… insanely generous.
"Of course it's real. Phione's currently being kept on a farm back in Kanto." Damian glanced at Phione's image, his expression turning a bit odd.
He'd stumbled across that Phione, actually.
On a hot springs trip to Cinnabar Island, he went out to sea and spotted a Phione sunbathing—so he nabbed it.
Only pity? It was Phione, not Manaphy. If it were Manaphy, Damian figured he wouldn't have caught it—Manaphy's the real deal.
Yeah, going strictly by the games, Phione comes from Manaphy bred with Ditto, and Phione can't evolve into Manaphy.
Don't ask how a genderless Manaphy breeds in the games—it just does.
Lugia's genderless too, but the anime still gave us a Lugia mom and a Lugia baby.
Worth noting: even though Phione's Mythical, its base stats are only 480. Yep—lower than your starter trio's final forms.
You could say Phione is hands down the weakest among all Legendary and Mythical Pokémon.
And if Manaphy's "the Prince of the Sea," then Phione…
Is the "commoner of the sea."
Still, commoner or not, Phione's a Mythical. Nothing stopping Damian from using that Mythical label to hype up his subordinates!
Think about it: put in the overtime, stack up those "points," and you can redeem a Mythical right out of legend!
Motivated yet?
"!!!" Gladion's eyes flared hot.
A Mythical out of legend—if he could get one, wouldn't his path to domination begin?
He could stand before Lusamine then, head high, and say, "I'm not taking your orders."
"This is just the current rewards list. We'll be adding more top-tier Pokémon later—don't get hung up on what's here now."
Watching Gladion get all fired up, Damian worried he'd fixate on Phione.
And he wasn't lying—pseudo-legendaries from other regions were still untracked, but Team Rocket had already pinpointed the Kanto bird trio.
Giovanni would dispatch three admins to go catch them.
Sure, Team Rocket had dropped gene experiments, so there'd be no "fusing three birds into one," but wild Kanto birds are still legendary-class.
Giovanni wasn't going to pass that up. After spending so much to find them, why waste it?
Damian felt that was necessary. Using Phione as a top-tier reward… bordered on false advertising.
Swap in Moltres and it'd look way better.
"I got it! Don't worry, young master—I'll give it everything I've got!"
For that Phione!
Gladion replied solemnly. He felt fired up.
An organization like Team Rocket, where you could truly grow stronger—that was exactly where he belonged.
He would protect Lillie, no matter what!
"Good! Love the energy!"
Damian nodded, pleased, and patted Gladion's shoulder.
Still, scraping together a hundred thousand "points" wasn't easy. For context, the current merit leader in the organization—Archer—had just over eighty thousand.
Clearing a hunter organization stronghold netted anywhere from a hundred to a thousand merit, depending on its size.
And Gladion wasn't the only one eyeing Phione. Proton was weirdly into it too.
"Plumeria, take Gladion to Akala Island next. Wrap up the hunter organizations over there ASAP."
Damian gave the order.
"Yes, young master."
Plumeria nodded. Compared to recruiting, she actually preferred smashing hunter outfits.
"Alright, I'm heading out. Once you're ready, move."
Damian turned to leave. He'd just come to "interview" Gladion—and he was satisfied.
Alola's Team Rocket was on the rise!