Tree of Beginning Park.
At some point, a majestic castle had already been built on the outskirts of Tree of Beginning Park. Towering and grand, it was extremely impressive.
Damian had had it built earlier.
The main reason was actually that Kanto Team Rocket didn't have a specific headquarters location, so Damian had thought of Unova Region's N's Castle.
As the boss of Team Rocket, how could he not have a cool castle of his own?
And so, this Tree of Beginning Castle was completed.
"Lord Damian, welcome back."
The main doors of the castle slowly opened. Anthea and Concordia stood behind them and bowed to greet Damian.
So beautiful~!
Serena, who was following behind Damian, looked at the two women. Their temperament, looks, and figures were all flawless.
"Long time no see, Anthea, Concordia."
Damian walked in slowly and smiled at the two of them.
The Tree of Beginning Castle had just been completed, and Anthea and Concordia were managing it as the castle's caretakers.
Damian trusted the two of them a great deal. After all, they were his women, and both had gentle, mature personalities. Back in Team Plasma, they had been the Admins known as the "Goddess of Love" and the "Goddess of Peace," and their management skills were undeniably excellent.
"You must be tired from the journey. Would you like to bathe first?"
Anthea said softly, her tender, alluring eyes reflecting Damian's silhouette.
"Yeah, I am a little exhausted. I'll take a shower first."
Damian stretched.
"Concordia, take Caitlin and the others to their rooms."
"Yes."
Concordia answered, and in a corner no one else could see, she gave Anthea a resentful look.
Damn it!
Watching Anthea lead Damian upstairs, Caitlin remained expressionless. Taking Damian to bathe? Clearly, this pink-haired woman was trying to squeeze Damian dry!
Damn! Damian had been traveling all day, and he was already exhausted!
"Miss Caitlin, please follow me."
Concordia naturally noticed Caitlin's unhappy expression, but she was already used to it.
She probably understood why Caitlin didn't like the two of them very much, but Concordia was calm.
Because, in the end, it all came down to Lord Damian's attitude, right?
Besides, Concordia felt that the two of them weren't asking for much. They weren't greedy people, and they knew exactly where the two sisters stood.
As long as Lord Damian didn't ignore them, that was enough.
Concordia led Caitlin and the others to the second floor. Knowing that Caitlin and the others were coming, they had already had servants clean up the rooms.
Caitlin naturally went into her room to rest, but Dawn and the other two asked Concordia to show them around the castle.
"This castle is way too luxurious, isn't it? This really is a king's castle."
Alexa sighed as she took photos.
And even though it was called a castle, the place was actually bigger than an ordinary town. It was absurdly huge.
"Because Lord Damian ordered everything in the castle to be designed to the highest standards, and this castle itself is also where the organization's headquarters are located."
Concordia smiled.
"Does anyone live here normally?" Serena asked curiously.
"Yes. Anthea and I are the castle's caretakers, and many servants also live here. They're responsible for the castle's daily cleaning, and the organization's top-tier Admins are also allowed to live here."
Concordia explained as she led them into a huge meeting hall.
It was a massive conference room, but there were only seven seats at the meeting table for now.
Each seat had the owner's name written on it, and the head seat was Damian's.
"Top-tier Admins?"
"Yes. The perks for top-tier Admins are the highest in the organization, and they also get their own rooms in the castle."
Concordia nodded.
"Caitlin, Zinnia, Karen, N, Colress, Selene?"
When Dawn saw the name on the last seat, she froze. Selene?
If she remembered correctly, that was Mr. Damian's girlfriend's name, right?
So Mr. Damian's girlfriend was already a formal Champion-tier Trainer?
"Do the top-tier Admins come live in the castle?" Alexa asked again.
"Yes. Miss Zinnia lives here all the time, and Miss Karen and Sir N occasionally come back to the castle to spar."
Concordia thought about it and said with a smile.
"Only Miss Selene hasn't come to the castle yet."
Concordia said.
"Miss Concordia, have you met Selene?"
Dawn didn't even know what she was thinking when she asked that.
She actually wasn't that familiar with Anthea and Concordia. After all, she had only met them once before, but she did have a pretty good impression of the two women.
"No, I haven't. But from what Lord Damian said, Miss Selene is still training in the Alola Region, so she doesn't have time to come back to Kanto."
Concordia was still wearing that very gentle smile.
"I see." Dawn nodded.
Under Concordia's leadership, Dawn and the other two wandered around the castle for another half hour. The castle's full setup was beyond imagination.
An entertainment room, a gym, a swimming pool, even a specially equipped movie theater, and more.
Worth mentioning, Alexa had originally wanted to find Damian and relax a bit, but she didn't get the chance.
Yep, because Sister Anthea and Concordia had gotten there first.
That left Alexa with nothing but a resentful trip back to her room to stay there alone.
Well, in truth, if Alexa was willing to join the "battle," Damian definitely wouldn't mind. But even though Alexa was a fairly open-minded big sister, this was still her first day meeting Anthea and Concordia, so she'd be shy too. After thinking it over, she decided to leave it for later.
Even if she really was going to accompany Damian with other women, Alexa would still rather do it with Viola. At least Viola was her real little sister.
Although Viola was outgoing and cheerful too, she probably wouldn't be too willing to do something like that.
In the blink of an eye, two days passed.
During these two days, Damian stayed in the Tree of Beginning Castle, heading to Tree of Beginning Park during the day to take a look around.
And during these two days, Kanto's online scene was also extremely lively, because the Indigo League had already started building hype.
Kanto Region's strongest Gym Leader, Giovanni of Viridian Gym, was going to take on an Elite Four challenge!
In Kanto Region, Giovanni's fame goes without saying. Mature, steady, and completely free of that closed-off, isolated vibe, Giovanni stood out among Kanto's Gym Leaders as something refreshingly different.
And because of Damian, Giovanni, as a dad, had also been all over the trending lists again and again.
There had even been a previous hostage controversy over Giovanni's identity, but the Indigo League strongly backed him, and with Team Rocket's reputation getting better and better these days, the relationship between Giovanni and Damian had become a hot topic of discussion.
On the fourth day after Damian returned to Kanto, Indigo Plateau, the location of the Indigo League headquarters.
That day, Quartz Arena was already packed to the brim.
In previous years, only the start of the Indigo Plateau Conference would draw such a crowd, but today was different!
On the torch, Moltres's sacred flame blazed fiercely.
"Tsk~ Once I'm done dealing with the League, I definitely need to say something to Goodshow."
Seated in the VIP audience section, Damian glanced at the flame on the torch and clicked his tongue.
This was the headquarters region of the Pokémon League, and they were actually using Moltres's flame? That was way too lame.
If needed, just tell the brothers, and they could get you some Reshiram flame, right?
If you didn't want that, I could even get you some Ho-Oh flame.
Moltres's flame was seriously too weak. It didn't match the prestige of your Indigo League at all.
You have to know that in our Team Rocket redeem list, Moltres is still sitting there completely ignored.
"Hm?" Sitting beside Damian, Dawn tilted her head in confusion. What did Mr. Damian mean by that?
It was now nine in the morning.
"Welcome, everyone, to Quartz Arena."
On the high platform, a man in a suit with slicked-back hair and sunglasses held a mic, his loud, clear voice spreading across the entire arena.
"Today's event will be an Elite Four challenge applied for by Viridian Gym Leader Giovanni!"
"He will start with the first Elite Four member and continue challenging the Kanto Elite Four without any breaks. If he fails anywhere along the way, then the challenge is considered a failure!"
"And if Gym Leader Giovanni successfully defeats the Elite Four, then Gym Leader Giovanni will become the new Kanto Champion!"
As he said this, the emcee's voice rose higher.
"But this will be an extremely difficult challenge. As everyone knows, our Kanto Elite Four is recognized as the strongest Elite Four in the world!"
"Ever since the current Elite Four, led by Lance, were formed, over the past several years, let alone a full challenge run, not even the first member, Lorelei, has been defeated by anyone to this day!"
"So today, can Gym Leader Giovanni succeed?"
"Let's wait and see!"
The emcee's skills were clearly excellent. In just a few words, he had completely fired up the atmosphere in the arena.
The entire Quartz Arena erupted in excited cheers from the audience.
"All right! Now let's welcome the challenger for the Elite Four challenge."
"Viridian City's Viridian Gym Leader—Giovanni!!"
As the emcee shouted with blazing passion, the buzz-cut middle-aged man in a pricey black suit slowly walked out of the passageway and onto the battle stage.
Giovanni had one hand in his pocket. His slightly stern, lean face wore a faint smile, and his temperament was mature and steady, with not the slightest hint of nervousness.
"Gym Leader Giovanni!!!"
"Go, Gym Leader Giovanni! We're all rooting for you!"
"If anyone's going to complete our Invincible Under the Heavens Kanto Elite Four, it can only be Giovanni!"
"Gym Leader Giovanni! Can he win?!"
"That's a tough one. Lorelei specializes in Ice-type, which is a bad matchup for Gym Leader Giovanni's Ground-type."
The whole venue immediately burst into thunderous cheers, shaking the entire arena as if it were trembling.
That showed just how much influence Giovanni had in the Kanto Region.
After all, a Gym Leader taking on an Elite Four challenge was actually very rare, and as Kanto's most popular Gym Leader, Giovanni really did have a lot of supporters.
"This world is seriously insane."
In the ordinary audience seats, Archer, who was in disguise, couldn't help rubbing his forehead. He never would've thought—
His former Team Rocket boss was actually going to take on an Elite Four challenge. Was he about to become part of the Indigo League's upper echelon now?
Archer really couldn't deal with it.
"Hey~ that's nothing. Look over there."
Proton patted Archer's shoulder and pointed toward the VIP seats in front.
That's right, Proton was here too. He'd originally been in Unova overseeing the company, but when he heard Giovanni was going to take on an Elite Four challenge, he booked a flight and came straight back to Kanto that same night.
Come on, how could he miss a spectacle like this?
At that, Archer looked toward the VIP seats, his expression extremely strange.
There, he saw a green-haired young man wearing a white cloak. It was none other than the former Hoenn Champion, Wallace.
"Mr. Giovanni! Go, go, go!"
Wallace had both hands raised high, cheering crazily for Giovanni on the battlefield.
He looked every bit like a die-hard fan, which was more than enough to leave Archer utterly speechless.
This… this was normal?
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