"Violet City's school?"
Inside the Elite Four room, Axel looked at the areas Karen had circled and couldn't help muttering.
Axel had some impression of this place. In Pokémon Adventures, it was where Crystal first started doing volunteer work.
And it was exactly to earn money for the school that Crystal accepted Professor Oak's request and set out on her journey.
"How did you narrow it down to here?", Axel looked at Karen and asked curiously.
With Lance and Blue, these two outsiders present, Karen forced herself to suppress the urge to kneel to Axel, trying her best to keep her tone steady.
"I was one of the children Pryce took away back then. Because I was older, I often helped manage the other kids."
"Silver and Blue were different from the start… maybe because they were especially talented, they seemed to still remember some things from their childhood even after being abducted."
"Back then, Blue really liked going near the school, watching other people go to and from classes, seeing them get picked up by their parents."
"Silver didn't really like school, but he seemed to like following Blue around."
"When I took them to Violet City for special training, the two of them would often stay near the school."
"Based on my analysis of Silver's personality, I think the two places he's most likely to go are either Blue's side or near that school."
"Makes sense," Axel nodded.
In the storyline, Silver was almost exactly as Karen described. He looked like a cold person, but inside he cared deeply about relationships.
Especially when it came to Blue, this older sister figure.
In Pokémon Adventures: Gold & Silver, it was because of a single phone call from Blue that Silver officially stepped into the story, met Gold in Violet City, and gradually went up against Pryce, the final boss.
"Then I'll go check the school first. Don't follow me. If Silver sees you, he might hide."
Axel reminded Karen, then said goodbye to the ever-busy Lance.
Just as he was about to leave with Blue, Karen's phone suddenly rang.
She glanced at the caller ID, and her expression changed sharply.
"Lord Axel, it's Pryce calling. Should I answer it?"
"He's been contacting you a lot lately?", Axel's eyes lit up.
Recently, Pryce had escaped from his grasp too many times. He had almost forgotten that Karen could be used to draw him out.
Afraid Axel might misunderstand, Karen quickly explained.
"My lord, please don't misunderstand. It's true he's been contacting me often, asking me for resources, but I've been refusing him with all kinds of excuses."
"That's not what I meant," Axel waved his hand, signaling her not to worry.
After they parted ways at Blueberry Academy, Karen had basically been getting a sum of money from Pryce every month and sending it to Axel.
And with Pryce busy lately gathering resources to restore Kyogre's strength, even if Karen gave him some, Axel wouldn't have stopped her.
"Answer it first. Then say… uh, forget it, I'll take it myself."
Axel originally wanted Karen to tell Pryce she had already submitted to him.
But thinking about it again, that would be too cruel. It might directly anger Pryce to death. Better for him to say it himself.
["Karen, how are things on your side? Is it convenient to talk?"], Pryce's cautious voice came from the Rotom.
Axel turned on the video function, letting Pryce see his face, and put on a standard smile.
"Of course it's convenient. We're all old acquaintances. What's there we can't talk about?"
["You?"]
The moment he saw Axel, Pryce's kind expression vanished. His face shifted, and within his calm eyes flashed a trace of concern that was hard to notice.
He was worried about Karen.
Ever since the Masked Man organization was destroyed, the people around him had been dwindling. Now only Karen, his oldest adopted daughter, was left.
Deep down, Pryce absolutely did not want anything to happen to her.
After a moment, he hid the concern in his eyes and glared at Axel through gritted teeth.
["I didn't expect you to find out in advance that I planned to kill Karen. In that case, it seems I'll have to find another target."]
"Wait!", Seeing Pryce about to hang up, Axel raised a hand to stop him.
"What if there's a possibility that Karen is already under our control?"
As Axel spoke, he rotated the Rotom's camera, "Come on, Lance, say hello to Pryce."
Lance: "..."
Now he finally understood how Axel could move so freely among villains like Pryce and Giovanni.
This guy was even more ruthless than them.
As one of Kanto's Elite Four and the Johto League Champion, even he didn't know Karen was Pryce's person.
Yet Axel had already, who knew when, turned Karen into one of his own?
If he, Lance, had that kind of ability, Team Rocket would've been blasted away long ago.
Seeing Lance there as well, Pryce no longer held any illusions. He let out a helpless sigh.
["Let's talk terms. As a member of the Elite Four, Karen has made great contributions to the Johto League, and at most she only provided me with intelligence."]
["According to your higher-ups' rules, she should be given a chance to atone for her crimes."]
["With my strength, I can completely make up for her."]
Seeing how cooperative Pryce was, Axel actually felt a bit awkward.
His original plan was to have Pryce come rescue Karen, then capture him in the process.
But now it seemed Pryce still had some humanity left, wanting to atone in Karen's place.
In that case, continuing to use Karen as bait would be somewhat unfair to her.
"Then help me wipe out Team Rocket. Once Team Rocket is gone, we'll release Karen," Axel said it casually, then hung up.
Beside him, Lance was completely dumbfounded.
'Wait, what? You can do that?'
'Using one villain to balance another?'
'Then what is the point of me running all over the place all these years, tirelessly hunting Team Rocket?'
———
[Somewhere in Sinnoh]
Pryce sat blankly by the seaside, staring at the frozen ocean in a daze.
He had always thought that, for him, nothing in this world was more important than saving Lapras.
But just now… when Axel said Karen had been controlled, he had panicked without even thinking.
Originally, he made that call to Karen to locate Axel and launch a sneak attack.
But even Pryce himself hadn't expected that, for Karen's safety, he would agree to attack Team Rocket.
He had once heard that the older you get, the more you care about the people around you.
"Could it be… I've gotten old too?"
"Forget it… whether I'm old or not, I can't do something I'll regret for the rest of my life."
"No matter the reason… Karen is my last daughter…"
Thinking this, Pryce seemed to make up his mind. He lifted his gaze toward Kanto.
"Just so happens I've had some conflicts with Team Rocket as well. Old grudges and new, I'll settle them together."
"Get ready, Giovanni…"
"Mamoswine, Delibird, let's try again, borrow Lugia's power!"
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.