"Sigh, the boss told us to keep an eye on the Pokémon Center here," a Team Rocket grunt said as he walked. "Don't get distracted. If we miss those girls and mess up the boss's plans, you can wait to be fired."
"Those girls went missing near Snowbelle City," his teammate curled his lips, looking around as he spoke. "We're in Coumarine City. No matter how fast they run, it's impossible for them to show up here, right?"
Just as one of them was about to nod in agreement, his gaze shifted, and he happened to see the four girls over there selecting accessories with Ribbon.
"..."
"Let's report this to the boss."
"Alright."
Meanwhile, at Team Rocket headquarters.
Giovanni leaned back on the sofa, looking at the two Team Rocket executives reporting to him, and at the footage of the four girls who had vanished into thin air for over a week.
After a long while, he pondered for a moment and signaled that he understood.
Once the phone hung up, he called up a map. He began contacting Team Rocket operatives planted in the various cities and towns leading to Coumarine City to confirm whether the four had passed through any of those points, while simultaneously deep in thought.
"I remember the intel from last time... the people from Pelican Town arrived at Coumarine City by boat, right?"
Seeing the secretary beside him nod, he fell into thought once again.
"It couldn't possibly be... that they used some method to teleport from Snowbelle City back to this so-called Pelican Town, could it?" Giovanni muttered, thinking uncertainly.
But this was a world where anything was possible. Besides, these people could even produce a frog capable of devouring Zygarde; they might very well possess other things he couldn't even imagine.
Just as Giovanni was pondering this, another message came through from over there.
"Boss Giovanni, this is newly acquired trainer information regarding Pelican Town, just obtained from the Pokémon League."
Giovanni opened it and saw a somewhat bizarre profile card sent over.
[Name: M. Rasmodius | Age: Unknown | Affiliation: Pelican Town]
Beside it was a slightly blurry photo of a man with purple hair, wearing a strange hat and a cloak.
Giovanni paused, tapping his fingers on the desk. "Send a team to tail him."
"Yes, Boss."
"These Tea Saplings are really excellent," Ramos looked at the tea trees planted on the mountain and couldn't help but sigh in admiration. "Every single one is in great condition. It feels like even without a Pokémon's Grassy Terrain, they could successfully take root in this land."
Of course, the various metrics of Coumarine City's soil were also quite good.
Thinking this, Ramos saw Ron pull out a Poké Ball.
The next second, a red light flashed, and Shaymin instantly stood in front of Ramos.
"Sha... Shaymin?" Ramos was taken aback and hurriedly approached it. He stared intently at this Shaymin, sizing it up and down, and couldn't help but ponder: "So... so familiar. It seems like someone once brought you before me in the past..."
"Shaymin~" Shaymin called out to Ramos, then turned around and began running through the field where the tea trees were planted.
A green light radiated from its body, and immediately after, countless tea trees, under the influence of this glow, gradually began to sprout and bud.
——
"Shaymin~"
"It really is familiar... Where did you get this?" Ramos asked.
"This is my grandfather's Pokémon."
"Your grandfather?" Ramos frowned in thought, unable to come up with a matching person in his mind for the moment.
After struggling with it for a while and seeing the tea trees planted, Ramos pushed his confusion aside. After confirming the future tea sales and production with Ron, he left the tea mountain with a happy face.
Meanwhile, the Wizard walked quietly through the woods. He looked at the map in his hand while silently observing everything around him.
A long time had passed since he last came to this continent. The Wizard watched the Pokémon leaping through the bushes, feeling the energy emanating from the jungle.
"There really is absolutely no arcane energy."
Glancing around, considering the upcoming journey, he pulled a Poké Ball from his pocket and decided to catch a Pokémon first.
He hadn't planned on returning with Ron anyway; to conserve his arcane energy, the Wizard planned to just use a warp totem when the time came.
After a round of patrolling, the Wizard's gaze locked onto a Caterpie wriggling by the roadside.
"Whatever, this will do." The Wizard thought, waving his staff. The Caterpie was lifted off the branch nearby and slowly floated in front of him.
Remembering the Pokémon catching guide Ron had told him about, the Wizard pondered for a moment, then waved his staff at the Caterpie. A blue light enveloped it.
The Caterpie, which had been trying to wriggle and struggle, was immediately bound in place by the light, even stiffening until it looked like a rigid twig.
Then, the Wizard threw the Poké Ball at the Caterpie.
A red light flashed.
The Poké Ball dropped to the ground, shook twice, and then stopped in place.
"I suppose this counts as a success."
The Wizard thought, crouching down to pick up the Poké Ball from the ground.
At the same time, the scattered Zygarde Cells nearby couldn't help but widen their eyes.
The information was transmitted at lightning speed to Squishy, who was still inside Bonnie's pocket at the shopping mall, making it instantly widen its eyes in horror.
"Zy-ga?"
"What's wrong, Squishy?"
Startled by Squishy's sudden cry, Bonnie quickly handed Ribbon in her arms to Serena, then took Squishy out of her pocket.
"What's wrong? Is it sick?" Serena asked with concern.
Bonnie held up Squishy, which was still wide-eyed and motionless, and couldn't help but worry. She reached out and shook it. "Squishy, are you okay, Squishy?"
"What happened?"
"I don't know," Bonnie said. "It just suddenly screamed in my bag."
"Zy-ga... Zy-ga... Zy-ga." Zygarde kept muttering. After glancing in terror at Abigail and Haley beside it, it turned right around and burrowed back into Bonnie's pocket.
"Zy-ga... Zy-ga, Zy-ga."
"It seems to be trembling." Bonnie looked at her pocket, which was now vibrating. "Could it be having a nightmare?"
"A nightmare?"
Bonnie wasn't too sure either, but since Squishy didn't show any other symptoms of discomfort, she could only guess. Even when traveling with her before, Squishy had always acted very composed.
Thinking for a moment, Bonnie patted Squishy in her pocket soothingly.
Inside the pocket, Dedenne looked blankly at the trembling Squishy.
"Dede?"
"Zy-ga, Zy-ga..."
So... so terrifying.
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