For a moment, Giovanni and Colress could only stare at each other.
So the odds were only two percent?
Was this some kind of joke?
However, things had already reached this point, and the rift between Giovanni and Grey was only growing wider. Even if Giovanni willingly surrendered now, he would probably spend a very long time behind bars. He might avoid the death penalty, but he would still receive a life sentence and never see the outside world again.
When he thought about his public identity and the one he kept hidden, Giovanni had always felt that Grey already knew he was Team Rocket's leader. Grey had simply refrained from exposing him for one reason or another.
Was it because he lacked evidence?
Yes, that was probably it.
Giovanni considered that the most likely explanation.
Once Grey arrived in Alola, it probably would not be long before the two sides fought a vicious battle.
"What should we do next, Boss?" Colress asked.
He had already begun treating Giovanni as the backbone of their operation. With Grey on his way, they obviously needed countermeasures. As for what those measures should be, Colress naturally wanted to hear his leader's opinion.
"We proceed according to the original plan. How did the negotiations with Cyrus, Lysandre, and Rose go? According to our schedule, they should already be in Alola."
Giovanni rubbed his forehead as he asked about the task he had previously assigned to Colress.
He had deliberately selected three leaders who were personally powerful and commanded influential organizations. With their help, they might be able to restrain Grey together and preserve the faintest chance of survival.
Colress's formerly confident expression instantly froze.
"Well..."
He was trying to figure out how to explain the situation.
Giovanni raised an eyebrow and told him to stop stalling. "Just tell me. My ability to endure bad news is extremely strong now. No matter the result, I can accept it. Which one of them cannot come?"
"Boss, perhaps you should ask which one can come instead."
Giovanni honestly followed his suggestion. "Which one can come?"
"None of them," Colress answered decisively.
Giovanni fell silent.
Then he forced several words through clenched teeth, enunciating every syllable.
"Colress, do you think you're funny?"
"There was nothing I could do, Boss. The moment they learned you intended to fight Grey, all three of them cut off contact with us. They said they would sooner conquer Alola on their own than help us deal with him."
Colress was equally helpless.
Grey's influence had simply become too great.
Not only had he caught several Legendary Pokémon, he was also an honored ally of Hoenn and an honorary member of Kanto's Elite Four. On top of that, he had an intimate relationship with Caitlin, the heiress of a prominent Sinnoh family.
Anyone could tell those two were practically guaranteed to end up married.
Opposing Grey would be the same as throwing their lives away.
Their organizations were not as extreme as Team Rocket.
Team Galactic, Team Flare, and Macro Cosmos were all respectable local organizations.
Team Galactic's roots went back more than a century, to when Sinnoh was still called Hisui. Even the Pokémon League could not claim deeper roots in the region.
Besides, the present Team Galactic was doing good deeds. They practically performed one act of charity every day and behaved like model citizens.
Team Flare's leader was the inventor of the Holo Caster, and his organization had performed tens of thousands of good deeds throughout Kalos. Sometimes, it was even more effective than the League.
Finally, there was Macro Cosmos, one of Galar's most powerful conglomerates. It was devoted to researching the region's unique Dynamax phenomenon and had helped transform the once-impoverished Galar region into the thriving place it was today.
How could anyone expect them to abandon their reputations and join Giovanni in a struggle against Grey?
That would be the same as abandoning their lives.
They were not idiots.
Rose had been the first to refuse.
Originally, he had planned to help Giovanni in exchange for Giovanni coming to Galar and assisting Leon in suppressing Eternatus.
After thinking it over, however, Rose had decided against it.
Asking Grey was far more practical.
Grey was a legitimate League Trainer through and through, and he possessed enough strength to confront major Legendary Pokémon.
Of course Rose had to invite him instead.
Lysandre, meanwhile, believed that the risks were not worth it. Grey alone had already brought him enormous profits, so there was no reason to offend such a valuable source of income.
Cyrus knew even more of the truth.
The influence wielded by Caitlin and her family far surpassed that of the current Team Galactic.
Therefore, after careful consideration, he had also decided to stay away.
Jokes were jokes, but nobody should joke around when Grey was involved.
You attacked Grey one second, and your headquarters was raided the next.
One only had to look at the group of major Legendary Pokémon Grey possessed to understand that he absolutely could not be provoked.
Thus, all three men had politely rejected Team Rocket's proposal.
They even told Giovanni that if he somehow survived the coming battle, they would invest afterward and go all in with him.
Just like that, Team Rainbow Rocket was reduced to Giovanni and Colress, the only two people left capable of carrying the organization.
Meanwhile, at the Fighting Dojo in Saffron City, Kanto...
"Babe, Cynthia and I are heading out to shop!"
Now that her closest friend had come to visit, Caitlin naturally wanted to spend more time with Cynthia.
Grey had no objections. He even arranged for the dojo's three Legendary birds to accompany them as bodyguards.
"How nice," Green said sarcastically from nearby. "You even get Legendary Pokémon to carry your bags when you go out. Why don't I ever receive that kind of treatment?"
Grey raised an eyebrow and immediately pinched her cheeks.
"Don't think I haven't noticed. Whenever you go out, you always bring Blaziken and the others along to carry your bags."
"Mmm, that's different! I want you to assign them to me without being asked. I don't want to have to call them myself before they agree to come!"
Green had grown accustomed to Grey pinching her cheeks, and she was becoming increasingly good at speaking clearly despite it.
Her gradually rounder cheeks were squeezed bright red, but she refused to back down.
"Why don't you let Reshiram accompany me sometime?"
"Pay me."
Grey released her and rubbed his index finger and middle finger together.
"Reshiram is one of Unova's founding Legendary Pokémon, and it's beautiful on top of that. You can't expect to borrow it without paying something."
Green stared at him in shock before putting on a tearful expression.
"I can't believe you would demand money from me after everything we've been through. Normally, I let you toss me around however you please, yet you can't even satisfy one tiny request."
"Do you think I'm the kind of girl who'll just let you do whatev*#..."
Before Green could finish, Grey covered her mouth.
"Green, don't say things people could misunderstand!"
Grey was genuinely afraid she would continue.
This girl could not say anything decent to save her life. Everything that came out of her mouth could be interpreted in the worst possible way.
"Was I wrong?" Green asked, staring at him with wide, pitiful eyes. "If you hadn't been away from the dojo so often lately, I'd be worried you might secretly devour me one day."
"Is it really that serious?"
Grey rolled his eyes.
"Hard to say."
Green shrank back and put on an especially vulnerable expression.
"But if it were you, Grey, what would such a tiny price matter if it meant I could borrow Reshiram?"
"You'd be getting the better end of that deal."
Grey tapped her on the forehead and sighed helplessly.
"Forget it. The next time Reshiram is free, you can ask whether it wants to go with you. If it has time, you can borrow it. If it's busy, then forget it."
"Hehe, you're the best, Grey. I knew you weren't merely playing around with me."
Green stepped behind Grey, rose onto her toes, and massaged his shoulders a few times.
"Grey, something's happening to Nebby!"
Lillie's anxious voice suddenly came from the dojo's backyard.
Grey immediately abandoned Green and rushed toward Lillie.
In the backyard, Cosmog, normally the most energetic Pokémon there, had become enveloped in brilliant light.
Lillie had no idea what was happening, and her face was filled with anxiety.
As soon as Grey arrived, she hurriedly explained the situation.
Nebby had been happily bouncing around as usual when it abruptly stopped moving. A moment later, the light had surrounded it.
"It's evolving. Judging by Cosmog's condition, the time must have come."
Grey could not help feeling emotional.
He had originally believed Cosmog was still some distance away from evolving. He had not expected it to happen so soon.
"Evolving? Nebby can evolve?"
Lillie knew what evolution was, but she had no idea that Nebby possessed an evolved form.
"It can."
Grey nodded slightly.
"Cosmog's base stat total is only a little over two hundred. A Pokémon with stats that low is almost guaranteed to possess an evolution. It can probably evolve once more after this. Judging by its current strength, it should be similar to those slow-growth Pokémon that take a long time to mature. Once it reaches its final evolution, it will finally be able to unleash its true power."
"A slow-growth Pokémon? Nebby has that much potential?"
Slow-growth Pokémon were more commonly called pseudo-Legendary Pokémon by Trainers online.
Pokémon of that kind were generally unimpressive during their early stages. They required extensive training and took a very long time to evolve.
Because of that, many Trainers preferred raising starter Pokémon, which provided much better value for the effort invested.
It was not that pseudo-Legendary Pokémon were impossible to raise. Starters were simply more cost-effective.
"It does. In my opinion, Nebby's potential is probably even greater than that of ordinary pseudo-Legendary Pokémon," Grey stated with complete certainty.
Cosmog was a Legendary Pokémon, after all, and its final evolution had two possible branches.
The first was Solgaleo, the Sunne Pokémon known as the Beast That Devours the Sun, which was somehow weak to Fire.
The second was Lunala, the Moone Pokémon known as the Beast That Calls the Moon, which was weak to Ghost.
Both were major Legendary Pokémon.
Aside from frequently being treated as convenient fusion material for Necrozma, they completely outclassed ordinary pseudo-Legendary Pokémon in every other respect.
"Wow! I never knew Nebby had so much potential. No wonder Mother was so interested in it."
After receiving Grey's explanation, Lillie finally understood why her mother had paid so much attention to Cosmog.
Grey glanced at Lillie but chose not to reveal Lusamine's true objective.
After all, he had yet to confirm which version of Lusamine existed in this timeline.
At that moment, Cosmog's evolution came to an end.
It had transformed into a Pokémon with what appeared to be three distinct layers.
From the inside outward, there was a central core, a nebula-like section surrounding it, and an outer shell composed of nine yellow structures.
The upper half of the inner core had thin blue lines running through its center and along both sides, while the lower half had pink lines.
Unlike Cosmog, Cosmoem kept its eyes tightly closed after evolving, making it appear to be asleep.
It was somewhat similar to Abra and Komala.
Their eyes remained closed all day, making it impossible to tell whether they were awake or asleep.
[Pokémon: Cosmoem]
[Type: Psychic]
[Level: 43]
[Ability: Sturdy]
[Moves: Splash, Teleport, Cosmic Power]
It knew a total of three moves.
Compared with before its evolution, the only new move was Cosmic Power.
"Wow! Nebby looks beautiful after evolving too!"
As she spoke, Lillie reached out and attempted to pick up Cosmoem just as she had always done before.
Unfortunately...
"Huh?"
Lillie placed both hands against Cosmoem's shell, but she could not lift it on her first attempt.
"It's so heavy..."
Refusing to believe it, Lillie exerted more strength. Only then did she realize that Cosmoem was far heavier than she had imagined.
It was only a tiny little difference of nearly a metric ton.
In any case, she could not lift it at all.
"That's strange. Nebby only weighed 0.1 kilograms before evolving. How much does it weigh now?"
Lillie was utterly confused.
Grey believed that practical testing was the best way to discover the truth, so he went inside the dojo and returned with a scale.
After placing the scale on the ground, Grey lifted Cosmoem with one hand and gently set it down.
Boom!
Even though he had handled it carefully, the impact still produced a thunderous sound.
The scale's indicator swung wildly.
Eventually, the display settled on 999.9 kilograms.
Lillie stared blankly.
How had her Nebby gone from weighing 0.1 kilograms to 999.9 kilograms after evolving?
That was absurd!
However, something else was even more absurd.
Had Grey just lifted Nebby with one hand?
The moment that thought appeared, Lillie found the situation increasingly unbelievable.
Could a human truly possess that much strength?
"Lillie, how could a Pokémon's fragile little body compare to my thoroughly trained physique?" Grey asked calmly, immediately understanding what she was thinking.
"Wow! Grey, you're amazing!"
Lillie clapped from the side, her eyes practically sparkling.
Grey was incredible.
Being beside him made her feel so safe.
"It's nothing special. This is merely standard equipment for a Fighting-type Trainer."
Grey did not consider lifting Cosmoem with one hand particularly impressive.
He still had a very long road ahead of him when it came to strengthening his body.
At least based on his present understanding, many Trainers could physically match him when he was not using Aura.
There was Bruno of Kanto's Elite Four, Marshal of Unova's Elite Four, Ivor of the Fist of Justice, Bea of Stow-on-Side Stadium, and even the absurdly superhuman rookie from Pallet Town, Ash.
None of them were physically inferior to him.
He still had a long way to go.
Thinking about that only made Grey feel that he needed to continue working hard.
He then changed the subject.
"Lillie, what kind of person is your mother? Would you mind telling me about her?"
"My mother?"
The moment Lusamine became the subject of their conversation, Lillie looked conflicted.
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