"Bzzz..." (This is weird. Why do I feel like there are other Pokémon here?)
Beedrill was high-level, and its senses were razor-sharp. With so many Pokémon gathered right in front of it, there was no way it would feel nothing.
"I feel it too. But why can't I see anyone else? Could there be an invisible Pokémon nearby?"
Giovanni rested a hand against his chin, his gaze sweeping across the surroundings as if trying to catch some clue.
Unfortunately for him, with Victini's support, both Giovanni and Beedrill could only sense that something was off.
That was what made Victini so absurdly broken.
Unless a top-tier legendary showed up in person, most Pokémon had no way at all to counter its power.
None of Grey's Pokémon made a sound.
Giovanni and Beedrill had no intention of leaving either. They simply stood there in silence like statues, not giving away the slightest sign of movement.
Several more minutes passed.
Footsteps echoed softly.
Giovanni did not close the door behind him. He simply left.
Beedrill followed right at his side, sticking so close it was practically attached to him.
The Pokémon exchanged glances. Terrakion gave a nod and took the lead.
"Stop right there. Don't move. I know you're there. Come out now, and I won't attack you."
They had only taken a few steps when half of Giovanni's face appeared from the shadows.
"Vi, vi, vi..."
Victini nearly bolted, but Gallade grabbed it at once.
"He's trying to lure us into revealing ourselves. Stay calm. Don't rush. That man is slippery as hell. Grey's scheming nature came from learning from him."
Gallade sent the warning to everyone through telepathy.
The energy that had begun to gather around Terrakion vanished at once as it stared Giovanni down from a distance, trying to see whether he was bluffing.
And sure enough, he was.
Giovanni waited another five full minutes before locking the back door and returning upstairs.
Beep. Ding.
Giovanni was gone.
Now Grey's Pokémon had no idea where to go next.
"Who exactly was that guy just now? How is he that strong? Especially that Beedrill, aside from Reshiram, none of us can take it."
Terrakion let out a long breath.
Honestly, it had been genuinely scared.
Its original thought had been to ambush Giovanni, even if it meant trading its own life for his.
But if the attack had been blocked, then Reshiram would have had to come out right at the start.
"So what now? That guy's gone, but we still don't know where the lab is."
Terrakion was the straightforward type. Usually it either charged ahead and opened the way, or simply followed someone else's plan.
Asking it to think through a situation like this was basically impossible.
"Machamp." (We climb floor by floor. We can't afford to miss a single clue. It might take a while, but it's the safest method we've got right now.)
That was Machamp's suggestion.
None of them knew which floor Team Rocket's laboratory was on.
And since they had no way to use the elevator, searching one floor at a time on foot was their only option.
It made sense.
"Gallade." (Yeah, that's the only real method. But going floor by floor is a pain. It'll take too much time.)
Gallade agreed, but not wholeheartedly.
"Victini?" (Gallade, do you have another idea?)
Sensing the implication in Gallade's tone, Victini quickly asked.
"Gallade." (I do. My thought is that we split into two groups. We've got two Pokémon who can keep others hidden, don't we? One team led by Meloetta, one team led by Victini. The only question is how long Victini can keep its buffs up.)
Gallade's plan was simple.
Since they had two Pokémon capable of keeping others hidden, one group could start searching from the top floor down, while the other searched from the bottom floor up.
That would be much more efficient.
They might even find the lab faster.
"Victini." (If I want to keep someone hidden too, it's actually pretty hard. Not impossible, but I can only take one person with me at a time.)
Victini had some skill, but not that much.
Its buffs could last a long time, but if it wanted to keep someone hidden too, taking even one person was already its limit.
"Gallade." (One is enough. Then you come with me. I'm close to Champion level. Even if we run into that Beedrill, I can still get us out safely.)
Gallade's escape ability was pretty solid.
At the very least, if it ran into Giovanni's Beedrill while boosted by Victini, it could simply Teleport away in an instant.
"Victini." (I'm in. Then it's settled, let's go!)
Victini pressed itself against Gallade.
Then the world spun.
Whoosh!
Gallade's group arrived on the familiar rooftop.
"So, you've come."
An old man sat on the sofa on the rooftop.
It was the president of Silph Co.
He was currently trapped in the rooftop office, unable to leave.
The fluctuation in psychic power just now had made him sense something, and he had thought Team Rocket was coming.
But in the end, nothing appeared.
"Sigh. The Silph Co. I built with my own hands has ended up like this. If I'd known it would come to this, I would have trained more Pokémon..."
The president was full of regret.
"If some kind soul could come save me, even if they wanted shares in Silph Co., I'd be willing to give them."
At this point, all he could do was pray that heaven would show him mercy. After everything he had done for humanity, he begged fate not to let Silph Co. become Team Rocket's new base.
"Victini." (Gallade, what are shares?)
Victini asked curiously.
"Gallade." (Shares are a set of rights a shareholder gets by investing in or acquiring part of a company. That includes both the right to profit from it and the right to take part in managing it.)
Gallade knew a little about the subject and gave a surprisingly detailed explanation.
"Victini?" (What does that mean? I don't get it.)
Victini scratched its head.
"Gallade." (It means you can sleep every day, and when the time comes, money shows up.)
Gallade decided to explain it in simpler terms.
"Victini!" (Ohhh, got it! Then how much money are shares in this company worth?)
"Gallade." (Hmm... let's just say they're worth a lot, a whole lot. Not even counting the buildings on your island, just the island itself, if someone had ten percent of the company, buying it outright wouldn't be a problem.)
Silph Co.'s status in the world was unshakable.
As the world-class company that held the patent for manufacturing Poké Balls, it was practically one of the foundations of the entire Pokémon world.
If Team Rocket managed to infiltrate a foundation like that, the consequences would be unthinkable.
That was why the president had been sighing in despair.
Not only would all his hard work be turned to nothing, the entire company would be handed over as a wedding gift to Team Rocket...
Damn those rats hiding in the shadows.
Team Rocket, you deserve to die!
"Victini." (That much money? Then wouldn't that mean I could eat all-you-can-eat barbecue whenever I wanted?)
Victini had spent the past few days around Mew and had learned about all-you-can-eat barbecue. It had been craving it ever since.
So its first reaction was obvious, with that many shares, wouldn't it be able to eat all-you-can-eat barbecue every single day?
"Gallade." (That's not wrong. Although with that much money, you could eat things even fancier than all-you-can-eat barbecue.)
Gallade had eaten all-you-can-eat barbecue a few times, but honestly thought it was just okay.
It had no idea why Mew and Victini were so obsessed with it.
"Victini." (That's fine, that's fine, let's go save him!)
As Victini said that, it moved to rescue the Silph Co. president.
But right then, everything changed.
Buzz...
That familiar sound of wings beating returned.
Gallade immediately pulled Victini back to keep it from being endangered.
Then Giovanni walked into the office with Beedrill at his side, smiling pleasantly as he looked at the Silph Co. president.
"Mr. President, have you considered what I proposed? This is a deal that benefits us both without limit. If you and I work together, the world itself will fall into our hands. I assume the reason you built Silph Co. into such a giant was to monopolize the resources of this world, wasn't it?"
Giovanni saw the president as someone just like himself.
Someone who wanted to control the world and keep everything firmly in his grasp.
"You and I are merely walking different roads toward the same destination."
"The only difference is that you want a throne built from money, while I want the authority that forces even legendary Pokémon to bow their heads."
"That's complete bullshit! You coward who only knows how to skulk in the shadows! I made Silph Co. this big to benefit humanity! Poké Ball factories need workers, and I built this company to provide them with stable jobs!"
The president of Silph Co. never believed for a second that he and Giovanni were the same kind of man.
In his eyes, Giovanni was just another greedy capitalist, someone who squeezed workers dry with sweatshops and tortured Pokémon through battle experiments, every coin he earned dripping with filth.
His own books, on the other hand, were spotless. He provided thirty thousand jobs in Kanto.
And he made donations from time to time as well. He was an entrepreneur.
From the very beginning, they had never been walking the same road.
"Heh, what a grand and noble excuse."
Giovanni laughed mockingly.
"What global corporation wasn't built on piles of bones?"
"At least I admit what I am. But you, dear Mr. President, do you really think champagne can wash away the rusty smell of blood behind your financial reports?"
"Enough games. Hand over the core technology behind the Master Ball, and I'll spare your life. I'll even offer you one last chance to cooperate."
Giovanni extended the invitation once more.
But this would be the last time.
"No! Forget it! Don't even think about the Master Ball!"
The president of Silph Co. could never hand over the Master Ball's core technology to Team Rocket.
That would be like bargaining with a tiger.
Even if the League later sympathized with the circumstances, the number of Pokémon Team Rocket would harm using Master Balls in the meantime would be astronomical.
"Heh, that isn't up to you. If you refuse, then don't blame me for what happens next."
A cold light flashed in Giovanni's eyes. His finger tapped lightly, and murderous intent spilled out.
A red sheen swept across Beedrill's compound eyes as its twin stingers tore through the air, dragging a poisonous wind behind them.
The killing strike was less than an inch from the president's throat.
Buzz!
Gallade's arm blades flashed out at once. A streak of blue-green light swept past, and in the same instant it wrapped an arm around the president's waist.
Space twisted under psychic power, rippling violently. The poison stinger pierced through what should have been its target, only to shatter an afterimage.
When the dust settled ten meters away, the president of Silph Co. was gone.
And where Beedrill's stinger hovered, a single drop of venom fell to the floor and burned into it with a hiss of green smoke.
"Hm?"
Giovanni frowned deeply. He had never expected a Pokémon to rescue the man he wanted dead right under his nose.
"The laboratory!"
A thought struck Giovanni all at once.
Too much had happened just now. He had already ordered his subordinates to destroy the data as quickly as possible.
But now there was a problem.
If one Pokémon had been able to rescue the Silph Co. president, then there was no way only one had infiltrated the building.
There was an old saying.
If you find one cockroach in your house, then the unseen dark corners are probably already crawling with them.
And that fit the current situation perfectly.
Giovanni was a man of action. The moment the thought occurred to him, he took the elevator straight to the middle floors.
Silph Co., fifteenth floor.
That was where the laboratory had been set up.
Not too high, not too low, just right.
While Giovanni had been trying to kill the president, Meloetta and the others had already searched their way there.
Countless Pokémon had been rescued. Team Rocket members had fought desperately to stop them, but Terrakion had simply swept through them with one horn and sent clusters of them flying.
By the time Giovanni reached the laboratory, the entire floor was already in ruins.
The Pokémon had been freed, but some of the research materials were still intact...
Slash!
A cold gleam flashed.
The Poké Ball at Giovanni's waist burst open, and Persian lashed out to the side in fury. A dark streak met the incoming water blade and canceled it out.
"Gallade." (Tch. Nice reflexes.)
Gallade dropped out of invisibility and leaped several steps backward in a row.
The other Pokémon stopped hiding as well and revealed themselves.
"So it really is you, Grey's Pokémon. But Annihilape isn't even here. Do you really think a group of Pokémon at Elite Four level, no, not even that, more than half of you haven't even reached Elite Four level, can challenge me?"
Giovanni sneered as Beedrill and Persian unleashed their full auras.
He was a living battle legend, a Champion-class trainer.
He wasn't bragging. Even Persian alone, just standing at the gatekeeper level right below Champion rank, was enough to crush every Pokémon present.
"Machamp." (That's true. We really are weaker than those two. Even if Annihilape were here, I still wouldn't be a match for Beedrill.)
Machamp nodded without the slightest attempt to hide it, fully agreeing with Giovanni.
"Bzzz." (Leave now, and none of you will be hurt. Otherwise, you will all die.)
A distinct draconic aura began to rise around Beedrill, the unmistakable sign that it was about to use Outrage.
Clearly, it intended to start killing immediately.
"Machamp." (You wish! Ever considered the possibility that just because we can't beat you ourselves doesn't mean we don't have backup?)
As soon as Machamp finished speaking, a Cherish Ball hit the floor.
Boom!!!
Azure flames erupted.
A giant dragon with pure white wings shielding its face descended slowly into the room.
Giovanni: ?
Grey actually had Reshiram sent back here?!
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810