Right now, the entire Celadon City underground base was in an uproar, with large numbers of Team Rocket members sweeping through every corner of the base.
Someone had snuck in!
That was an extremely bad piece of news.
The fallout from the S.S. Anne incident hadn't even settled yet.
If this base got reported to the Indigo League, who would the League send?
A woman with bright red hair in a white Team Rocket uniform strode down the corridor, face dark and stormy.
She was one of Team Rocket's Four Admins—Ariana.
"How is it?"
In a foul mood, Ariana took out her communicator.
Her expression was so cold and gloomy that she felt like a volcano on the verge of erupting.
The Celadon City base was under her management.
Damian had finally come over to have some fun for a few days, and on the very first day, this happened.
How could she not be furious?
Giovanni had already publicly cut ties with Lord Damian, which meant that the future boss of Team Rocket might very well be Damian himself.
And now that Damian had brought back two new executives from Alola, both insanely young and insanely strong, Ariana couldn't help feeling a sense of crisis.
She didn't think she'd get "optimized" out of the organization, but she still wanted to perform better—at the very least, she couldn't afford to screw up.
Yet something like this had to happen right now of all times.
"I'm sorry, Lady Ariana, we still haven't found them."
"Trash. If you can't find them inside the base, then search the ventilation ducts. Do I seriously need to teach you that?"
Ariana's icy, venomous voice made the subordinate on the other end of the communicator shudder.
"Yes!"
"Useless idiots. Get moving already! You will drag that rat out for me before Lord Damian gets back!"
Ariana was seething.
Then, suddenly, she heard a faint scraping sound from overhead.
She looked up at the ceiling, and a cruel smile slowly spread across her lips.
Looked like she'd found them.
"Sneaking into someone else's home like this, little mouse… no manners at all, are we?"
Ariana sneered as she opened a Poké Ball.
A cold‑looking Arbok appeared in front of her, tongue flicking in and out.
"Arbok!"
Arbok shot upward in a blur, crashing through the vent above and vanishing inside.
Boom!
With a loud crash, a girl in a black dress dropped lithely down from above.
"Wow, someone's in a mood. Is Auntie on her period or something?"
Her face was fairly average, but her crisp, bell‑like voice was bright and playful—very memorable.
"Sharp‑tongued little brat."
Ariana's expression turned even darker.
Did this girl seriously just call her "Auntie"??
BYD!
She was in her prime—only twenty‑six and a half, thank you very much!
"Oh dear, what a terrifying look in her eyes, it's like she wants to eat me!
Middle‑aged aunties aren't just ugly, they've got nasty tempers too, huh?"
The girl's mouth claimed she was scared, but she was still grinning like an idiot, as if Ariana barely even registered in her eyes.
"Hehehe…"
A low, guttural laugh rasped out of Ariana's throat.
"Brat, once I've got you, I'll make sure you're properly entertained."
Her expression was pitch‑black as the massive purple cobra slithered down behind her, its cold, reptilian eyes fixing on the girl.
"Thanks for the offer, Auntie, but this lady's got things to do. Can't stick around."
Without the slightest hesitation, the girl turned and bolted.
Fighting Ariana here would've been way too stupid.
She needed to get out of this base as fast as possible and report the existence of this Team Rocket base.
And now that she'd drawn Ariana's attention…
She had no idea how the other "kindred spirit" was doing.
The two of them had split up when they ran.
In fact, they'd only met by chance in the vents after slipping in—
They hadn't even exchanged a single word.
All she could do was silently wish that person good luck.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the base—
A faint yellow dust spread through the air.
The two Team Rocket members guarding Exit C, along with their Raticate, slowly relaxed from tense vigilance.
Thud～
"Nice. That went smoothly.
Hope that girl makes it out okay too."
A masked figure in black stepped out from the corner of the wall, letting out a breath of relief as they eyed the exit ahead.
At their feet stood a Vileplume.
Carefully stepping over the Team Rocket grunts sprawled all over the floor, the figure climbed the stairs and left the underground base.
"That was way too dangerous.
I didn't expect Team Rocket to have such a massive underground base here in the city!"
Once she reached an alleyway, the black‑clad figure pulled off her dark mask, revealing a fair, delicate face.
Celadon Gym's Gym Leader, Erika.
"I've gotta report this to the League immediately.
A base that big has got to have executives guarding it."
Erika couldn't take out her phone fast enough.
There had been zero signal down in the underground base—clearly they had signal jammers installed.
But now that she was out, her phone's signal bars were back to normal.
She had to notify the Indigo League right away and have them send people to wipe this massive Team Rocket base off the map.
Erika was very self‑aware.
Even if she considered herself pretty strong, taking down that underground base with just her and the Celadon police would be… optimistic, at best.
She walked quickly as she pulled out her phone and started dialing.
But—
Her steps suddenly halted.
A faint blue glow wrapped around her body.
Erika's expression froze instantly.
She tried with all her might to move, to exert strength—
But she couldn't budge an inch.
A binding Psychic!
"Honestly, you almost slipped away, little mouse."
A lazy, teasing voice drifted over from behind, and Erika's face went pale.
Cold sweat beaded on her skin.
She was done for.
Beside her, Vileplume reacted instantly, spinning around as green motes of light flared to life around its body.
But a split second later, another powerful psychic force clamped down on it as well, holding it firmly in place.
Both Trainer and Pokémon floated slowly up together, utterly unable to resist.
Tap… tap… tap…
Footsteps drew closer.
"Looks like it's a girl. Nice figure, too.
Mewtwo, turn her around so I can get a good look."
The boy's voice was lazy and a little wicked.
Hearing it made Erika's eyes go wide.
Wait—did she just get caught by some perverted degenerate?!
A dreadful premonition rose in her chest as all the sketchy novels and anime she'd seen flashed through her mind.
The girl gets caught by the villain, then subjected to all sorts of things and eventually "filled up like a cream puff" or whatever…
Erika's knees almost gave out.
Please no!
Elsewhere—
In another alleyway, the girl in the black dress was still running for her life, with Ariana hot on her heels.
"Auntie! I'm begging you, stop chasing me! We're never gonna have a future together!"
The girl really felt Ariana was a bit too clingy.
Ariana's face had gone black as night.
Just then, the girl's eyes lit up.
"You over there, Trainer—help me! Evil Team Rocket is chasing me!"
Hearing her shout, the boy ahead slowly turned.
His red eyes silently took in the girl and the Ariana behind her.
Team Rocket?
"…"
The boy slowly pressed down the brim of his baseball cap, saying nothing as he took out a Poké Ball.
"First one, now another.
You all really love sticking your noses where they don't belong, huh?
Guess none of you little ones have learned your lesson yet."
Ariana came to a stop, glaring coldly at the boy and the girl.
Had she really gotten that soft?
Did random passersby think they could just step up and get in her way now?
"Brat, hand over that loud‑mouthed little wench behind you."
Red‑eyed boy: "..."
He stayed silent, just popped open the Poké Ball.
A powerful Charizard appeared in front of him.
"Fine, fine, fine."
Ariana let out a short, furious laugh.
Kids these days really didn't know what it meant to be afraid of death.
Ignorant little fools.
~~~
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