Bruno had to admit it—Damian was something else.
He was poking Lorelei right where she was most guarded, and he was doing it with the ease of someone testing the edge on a knife.
Lorelei was top-tier in looks and figure, sure, but Bruno—whose world consisted of clean fights and heavier weights—had never liked her temperament. She was too extreme.
Agatha was eerie. Lance was arrogant. Lorelei was sharp enough to cut people just by speaking.
To be honest, Bruno often felt his three colleagues were each more unstable than the last.
But today?
Lorelei had met the one person who didn't care.
What kind of sane human casually says, "I'll make you carry my child"?
This guy was worse than the three of them combined.
"If you truly push me, I'm capable of anything, Elite Four Lorelei," Damian said, smile deepening as he leaned closer. "After all, I'm the 'evil Team Rocket' you keep talking about."
"…"
Lorelei bit her lip, but this time she didn't fire back.
She wasn't afraid of death. She'd long accepted that one day she might fall in a battle against Team Rocket.
But that meant dying with dignity.
It didn't mean being dragged into a humiliation she couldn't stop—and being forced to live with it.
To put it simply, Lorelei backed down.
Because she believed he really would do it.
With Armored Mewtwo's psychic restraint locking her down, she couldn't even move the way she wanted, let alone end things on her own terms.
"Good," Damian said softly. "With a face like yours and a body like that, why waste it on stubborn pride?"
He lifted a hand and brushed Lorelei's cheek, slow and deliberate. Her skin was cool under his fingers—smooth enough to feel unreal.
Lorelei tried to twist away and failed. The best she could do was glare.
"Damian," she sneered, voice flat, "I almost feel sorry for Giovanni. He actually fathered a degenerate like you."
"Maybe," Damian replied, tone unreadable. "But if he found out Kanto's Ice Queen had ended up in my hands… he might finally feel proud."
"Heh." Lorelei's laugh was sharp. "So this is fun for you? Watching me squirm?"
"Squirm?" Damian looked offended, as if she'd accused him of stealing. "Lorelei, why assume the worst?"
He leaned in again, smiling as though he meant it.
"I actually like you. I mean it."
Mhm. Wanting to conquer her—surely that counted as affection.
Caitlin's brows tightened. She knew Damian was toying with Lorelei, and she knew every word was calculated.
But it still annoyed her.
Because it sounded too much like a confession.
Arceus above… why did Lorelei get to be built like that, while she—
"Is this your idea of liking someone?" Lorelei asked, chin tilted upward by the pressure she couldn't escape. Her eyes, however, were thinking.
Agatha and Goodshow had both said it: Damian was a genius who'd chosen the wrong road.
If that was true—
Could she pull him back?
Lorelei's mind moved quickly.
"Whose fault is it that we're on opposite sides?" Damian asked, as if the answer was obvious.
"If you truly like me," Lorelei said, voice cold, "then quit Team Rocket and join the Kanto League."
She held his gaze.
"I'll marry you."
For a full second, the world went quiet.
Damian sucked in a breath.
Bruno—watching from a short distance—did the exact same thing, perfectly synchronized.
Bruno felt, with absolute certainty, that coming to Celadon City had been the best decision he'd made all month.
This was peak drama.
He even felt despair as the thought hit him: he hadn't recorded it.
"What did you just say?" Damian asked, genuinely caught off guard.
Lorelei's mouth curved, faintly smug.
"Quit Team Rocket. I'll marry you," she repeated. "You said you want children? Fine. I can give you ten. What do you think?"
Damian took two steps back.
Ten?
Was she trying to start a farm?
Erika: (⊙ｏ⊙)
Caitlin: (ｏ︵ｏ)
Bruno: Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
Damian stared at Lorelei like she'd grown a second head.
"Lorelei," he said slowly, "I'm starting to think your principles are… flexible."
"Principles can be adjusted," Lorelei replied, calm as ever. "If it's someone like you, Damian, maybe that adjustment is worth it."
She wasn't flirting.
She was calculating.
Damian hadn't been in Team Rocket long. More importantly, his strength was already terrifying—and he was only seventeen.
If he stayed "at large" long enough, Lorelei wasn't sure even Lance would be able to stop him later.
So she made the decision she considered correct.
If she could pull Damian off Team Rocket's board and onto the League's, then the entire war shifted.
What couldn't be accomplished with a weapon like him?
Damian smacked his lips.
This woman…
Interesting.
"Tempting," he admitted, smiling. "But not yet. I haven't finished what I joined Team Rocket to do."
He leaned in, eyes bright with amusement.
"But I'll remember what you said."
"Ten kids," Damian said, grin widening. "Not one less."
"…"
Lorelei didn't answer.
Even she was starting to wonder if he understood what "ten" meant.
"Today was pleasant," Damian said, stepping back again. "See you next time, Lorelei."
He turned his head slightly toward Bruno.
"And you too, Bruno."
"Wait," Lorelei said at once.
"Don't rush," Damian replied, raising a finger in a lazy hush. "Our future is long."
Armored Mewtwo lifted the three of them with psychic power.
In the next moment, they shot into the air and vanished from the battlefield.
Lorelei watched until they disappeared, her jaw tight.
Then she turned to Bruno, who walked over.
"When we get back," Lorelei said, voice chilled, "tell the President to raise Damian's danger rating to the highest level."
She looked at the wrecked field, the defeated Pokémon, and the empty sky.
"He's too strong."
"We also need his wanted poster," Lorelei added.
Bruno blinked.
"Huh? Isn't he your future husband? Ten kids and all that?" Bruno said innocently. "That's impressive. Even a Miltank can't do ten at once, right?"
Lorelei's face twitched.
She gave Bruno a stare that could have frozen steel.
Bruno coughed and looked away, suddenly fascinated by a random patch of dirt.
…
On a small hillside outside Celadon City.
"Damian," Erika asked cautiously, "can you please let me go now?"
With Damian and Caitlin leaving, the operation was clearly over. The ordinary Team Rocket members had held out briefly before being subdued by the League.
"When did I ever say I was letting you go?" Damian asked, looking genuinely confused.
Erika's expression stiffened.
"No, I mean… you're that strong. Why be petty with someone like me?"
Erika wanted to cry. Staying near Damian felt like standing next to an open flame. There was no telling when he'd decide to cause trouble again.
"Relax, Gym Leader Erika," Damian said. "I won't be in Kanto for long."
He gestured casually, as if assigning a minor errand.
"During that time, you'll handle my lodging and meals. When I leave, I'll let you go."
"This…"
Erika's refined face tightened.
So… she was a maid.
She was the Celadon Gym Leader. Her family was practically nobility.
And now she was being told to cook?
Damian tilted his head, almost kindly.
"If you don't want that, it's fine. There's a Team Rocket base nearby. I'll have to trouble you to stay there instead."
Erika's eyes widened.
"No." Absolutely not.
She forced her posture upright, voice turning formal at record speed.
"I would be delighted. Damian, please. You must give me this opportunity."
Damian blinked once, then smiled.
"I'm not forcing you."
"It's my own free will," Erika said immediately, as if her life depended on the phrasing.
"Good," Damian said. "In the future, whenever I return to Kanto, I'll go to the Celadon Gym and pick you up."
"Huh?" Erika froze.
Not just this time?
Every time?
How… how was she supposed to get married like this?
"Is there a problem, Erika?" Damian asked, smiling as if he enjoyed watching her suffer.
"No," Erika replied with a bitter face. "No problem."
In her heart, she was already planning an escape route that involved moving houses, changing names, and possibly fleeing the continent.
Damian turned to Caitlin.
"How do you feel?"
"I learned a great deal," Caitlin replied with an elegant smile, her gaze leaving Erika. "Fighting two Elite Four members at once… that pressure is rare. I can see where I fell short."
"That's the point," Damian said, nodding. "Battle is the fastest path to strength—especially a chance like this. If you didn't gain anything, it would've been a waste."
Caitlin's eyes softened slightly.
Damian believed she'd soon step fully into Champion level.
"Damian," Caitlin added, remembering something, "it seems Ariana and Gladion were captured by Bruno."
"I know," Damian replied. "I sent Mewtwo to retrieve them."
Armored Mewtwo had informed him earlier. From the beginning, it had stayed above the battlefield, tracking everything.
Useful didn't begin to cover it.
"The timing should be about right," Damian said.
…
Back in Celadon City.
"Good work, you two," President Goodshow said with a smile through the video call.
"It's fine," Lorelei replied. Then, without hesitation: "Damian appeared during the operation."
"Damian?" Goodshow repeated, his expression tightening.
"Yes. His strength is extremely high," Lorelei said plainly. "Even with Bruno and me together, we couldn't suppress him."
She continued, voice steady.
"And Caitlin has captured Tapu Lele. President, Team Rocket must be treated as a higher-level threat. With Damian and Caitlin added, their danger has escalated."
Goodshow sighed, rubbing his forehead.
"That boy… truly is a pity."
As Giovanni's child, Damian should've been a pillar of the League.
Instead, he stood opposite it.
Worst of all, his talent was outrageous.
Seventeen.
Already this dangerous.
Goodshow felt a headache forming.
"Agatha and Lance can handle him," Lorelei said calmly.
"I suppose that's what we'll have to rely on," Goodshow replied, nodding. "The Kanto League still has Agatha… and Lance."
Bruno leaned toward the camera, unable to resist.
"President, I think you can just leave Damian to Lorelei," Bruno said. "She promised she'd marry him later. She even said she'd have ten babies with him."
Lorelei's eyes cut sideways.
The chill on her face turned lethal.
But Bruno only smiled, innocent as a child.
Goodshow stared at Bruno in shock.
Then he stared at Lorelei.
And Lorelei—shockingly—didn't immediately deny it.
"…Huh?" Goodshow said, very quietly.