"The haul's pretty damn good."
Damian looks at the Cherish Ball in his hand and can't help smiling.
Yep, the Pokémon inside this Cherish Ball is Regigigas.
With a body that huge, if he let Regigigas walk to the Tree of Beginning in Kanto on its own, who knows how long that would take?
Obviously it's way faster to use a Pokémon transfer device.
Regigigas might not have agreed to officially become Damian's Pokémon, but once it's inside the ball, that kind of counts either way.
Damian glances over the devastated ground, shakes his head, and motions for Reshiram to head out.
A long, clear draconic cry rings out as Reshiram lands in front of Caitlin and Cynthia.
"It's done."
Damian holds up a freshly washed little box and smiles at the two women.
"Thank you."
Cynthia finally lets out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Damian, what is that?"
Caitlin eyes the wooden box in Damian's hand, curious.
"It's a very precious treasure belonging to a certain Pokémon. No idea why it ended up with Regigigas, but since it was moving house, it just gifted it to me."
Damian grins. This really is a complete surprise windfall.
Inside that box is Palkia's key treasure—the Lustrous Globe.
The "creation trio" each have two treasures, the Orb and the Grand Orb.
Palkia's are the Lustrous Orb and the Lustrous Globe.
The Lustrous Orb is basically like the Rainbow Wing or Silver Wing—it can be used at Spear Pillar to summon Palkia.
In‑game, if Palkia holds it, Lustrous Orb boosts the power of its Dragon‑ and Water‑type moves by twenty percent.
It's very much a Palkia‑exclusive treasure.
The Lustrous Globe, though, is even more critical.
In‑game, Lustrous Globe doesn't summon Palkia, but its buff is the same as Lustrous Orb—twenty‑percent power up for Palkia's Dragon‑ and Water‑type moves.
The Globe's most important ability is that it lets Palkia go Origin Forme.
That's the real key. Everyone knows Origin Forme is Palkia's true state. Only in that form can its natural talent be fully unleashed.
It's basically the same idea as Primal Reversion for Groudon and Kyogre.
Worth noting: in the games, Palkia and Dialga's Origin Formes don't increase their total base stats; they just redistribute them.
But anyone who gets it knows base‑stat numbers don't represent everything.
Arceus only has 720 base stats, and that doesn't stop it being the god of creation. Even just a fragment of it is untouchable.
Reality isn't the same as the games. Once Palkia goes Origin Forme, its strength will, without question, spike hard.
"With this, I've got a nice bargaining chip for Palkia later."
Damian tucks the box safely into his bag, nodding in satisfaction.
The Lustrous Globe itself isn't directly useful to him, but it's perfect for future deals with Palkia.
Like hiring Palkia as muscle, or having it help out with certain things. A master of spatial power has plenty of uses.
"A certain Pokémon?"
Caitlin tilts her head, blank.
She doesn't know who exactly Damian's talking about, but it's obviously some Legendary.
"But why is it always these vital treasures? Why do all these Legends keep losing their own stuff?"
Caitlin can't help being puzzled; it really does keep happening.
Groudon and Kyogre's Orbs, Kyurem's DNA Splicers—those are all crucial, tied directly to their states.
And they still managed to lose them. Now there's this Lustrous Globe too.
"Who knows? With how long they've been around, anything could've happened. Maybe they just dropped it mid‑fight or something."
Damian shrugs.
How would he know?
Maybe the years just piled on and it slipped away by accident. Personally, he suspects Dialga and Palkia beat the crap out of each other and knocked their own Grand Orbs loose.
Yeah. Dialga and Palkia might be "siblings," but they can't stand each other.
Every time they cross paths, it's an instant throw‑down without any hesitation. The original plot backed that up over and over. Unless something very specific gets in the way, those two would love nothing more than to blow each other's brains out.
Worth mentioning: one‑on‑one, Palkia seems to lose to Dialga more often than not. Which isn't surprising—Palkia losing to Dialga is perfectly normal.
But that doesn't really matter.
"Looks like you're recovering well. You get the situation now, right?"
Damian's eyes narrow slightly as he looks down at Hunter J on the ground.
"Do I even have another option?"
Hunter J's tone is still a bit weak, but she really is much better than before. At least she can talk now.
"I've got a lot of money."
Hunter J still tries to fight for her freedom as much as she can.
No matter how you look at him, Damian doesn't seem like a good person.
But she also knows that someone who can rein in a berserk Regigigas this fast is miles beyond anything she can resist.
And from Cynthia's attitude, this "Damian" is clearly no simple figure.
"You're the one who's got it twisted."
Damian lifts a brow.
"You belong to Team Rocket now. Everything under your name belongs to Team Rocket. And Team Rocket belongs to me. You're really trying to buy me off with my own money?"
Damian actually laughs.
Hearing that, Hunter J is shaken.
People in Sinnoh call her evil incarnate, a dyed‑in‑the‑wool criminal, but stacked against this boy…
She's practically a little white flower.
Cynthia also falls silent.
"Of course, I'm a kind man. If you don't want to join the organization, you can refuse."
Damian says it so casually, like he'd never force anyone.
Hunter J's expression flickers.
Refuse? With what exactly?
She's not suicidal; living always comes first. Only if you're alive can anything be possible.
Otherwise, who knows what Damian would do to her? Maybe he'd strip her entire force down to the bones and snuff her as well.
"…I understand."
Hunter J finally lowers her proud head.
"Smart choice. You've still got some brains. Meeting me today is about as lucky as you're going to get."
Damian nods calmly.
"Otherwise, even if none of this had happened, your end wouldn't be much better. Our organization was going to wipe out the hunter outfits sooner or later."
"Compared to being a hunter, isn't being a Team Rocket Admin nicer? Better prospects."
Damian's tone is pure mockery.
Hunter J doesn't answer.
She used to be her own boss; now she's reduced to serving under someone else.
On top of that, everything she's bled and scraped together over the years is gone. How's she supposed to feel happy?
"Gladion will come pick you up in a bit. Gather all your former subordinates. Gladion will tell you what comes next."
Hunter J might no longer be in critical condition, but her body is still weak.
No fear of her causing trouble for now.
Damian figures if she still causes trouble anyway, that's on her; he already gave her a second chance.
"Yes."
Hunter J responds.
Damian pulls out his phone and calls Gladion.
"Gladion, bring a squad out to Snowpoint City. Yeah, you in person."
Damian doesn't want to send a random Admin—someone like that can't keep Hunter J in line.
"Yes, Lord Damian. The temp staff have already started their op. It's going smoothly. We'll have this hunter base taken down soon."
Gladion reports.
He has to admit, even he's floored by how strong these temps are.
It's insane—especially the ones leading the charge.
If they were clearing this themselves, they'd probably have to pay some sort of price.
But with these temp staff?
Gladion genuinely admires Damian. All he had to do was spend a bit of money and hook them into a merit system, and these powerful temps are charging around like they mainlined adrenaline, thrilled to be doing the work.
The key is, their hands are "clean." Even if the League nabs them, at most they'll get a stern lecture.
And temp staff aren't stupid—they signed contracts.
They won't rat out the company's secrets; they'll insist to their dying breath they're "eliminating evil for the people."
And the League can't touch them.
Because both evil teams and hunter outfits are region‑level cancers, aren't they?
"Good. Once that base is wrapped, have them hit the other tough hunter bases too."
"Also, speed up the interrogation of Jupiter and Saturn. I want Team Galactic's headquarters located ASAP. If we can get them to join the organization, even better."
Damian thinks for a moment, then lays out the orders.
He's used the pretext of a company‑funded vacation to keep Rosa, Drayton, and the others in Sinnoh for now, but this isn't Unova.
They've got to head back to Unova in a few days. Coming all the way back again later would be a pain.
"Yes."
Gladion nods.
Once the call's over, Cynthia thinks a moment and asks Damian:
"Those temp staff… they're all students from Unova?"
"Not all. Some are Trainers out on their journeys. They're all kids with drive and real potential, though."
Damian doesn't bother hiding it.
Cynthia already knows most of the truth.
She says nothing, but she's thinking plenty.
Unova's entire next generation's getting stripped clean by Damian at this rate.
Not only has he "harvested" the region's legendary Pokémon, he's not even sparing their up‑and‑coming Trainers.
Is this guy even human?
If Senior Alder finds out, he'll probably be in tears.
"Come on. Let's head back to Snowpoint City and find a café to rest up."
Damian recalls Reshiram.
This place is cold, dead, and dreadful—no reason to hang around.
He also needs to transmit Regigigas over to the Tree of Beginning in Kanto; Team Rocket's got people stationed around the Tree specifically, which makes it easy.
"Mm. Where are you heading next?"
Cynthia's curious how Damian's going to move from here—wait for his subordinates to find Team Galactic HQ?
"I'm going to Michina Town. I need to confirm a few things."
Damian's eyes glint faintly.
He has to understand what's going on with the ruins in Michina Town.
Or rather—he needs to get a read on Arceus.
That's critical.
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