Quite a few people were gathered in front of the League building at the Indigo Plateau.
"I really didn't expect this day to come so soon."
Steven let out a long sigh.
"I still don't get it. Why do we have to fight Team Rocket? Could this all be some misunderstanding?"
Beside Steven, a youthful girl frowned slightly as she muttered to herself.
It was May.
In her heart, May still had a very good impression of Team Rocket. Back when she first met Damian and the others, they had even captured a Magma Admin.
Later, after watching Damian's interview video, May admired him even more. She was even part of Damian's online fan club in Hoenn and had argued with plenty of haters online because of him.
Her username on the forum was: 'My Dad is Not a Slaking.'
"May, you're still too young. Damian is dangerous. He's very good at hiding who he really is."
Wallace spoke seriously.
He thought very highly of May and believed she would become the future of the Hoenn region. After all, her talent was outstanding.
Although May had failed her Champion Challenge Match in the end, her opponent had been Steven. Besides, this was only her first year as a Trainer.
In Wallace's eyes, after another year of growth, Steven probably wouldn't even be able to beat her anymore.
"Yeah, yeah."
May rolled her eyes.
She was already used to Wallace constantly talking bad about Damian.
She didn't know why, but Wallace clearly disliked Damian a lot.
May had secretly asked Steven about it before, but Steven only gave her a strange look and told her not to think too much about it. According to him, Wallace was perfectly normal as long as nobody brought up Damian.
Beside them, Brandon stood quietly with his arms crossed.
"Cynthia is here."
A little later, Wallace suddenly noticed someone.
"Cynthia!"
"Wallace, Steven, Brandon. Long time no see."
Cynthia walked over with a smile.
But she wasn't alone. Beside her stood a blond boy.
At that moment, the boy was looking at Steven and Wallace with obvious excitement. After all, these two were the former and current Champions of Hoenn.
His name was Barry.
"Huh? Cynthia, where's that girl? The one who participated in the Elite Four Challenge Match. Platinum, right?"
Wallace asked curiously.
He had watched the Lily of the Valley Conference. The boy beside Cynthia was the runner-up who lost to the blue-haired girl in the finals.
In the end, Platinum had challenged the Elite Four. Although she lost to Cynthia, the strength she showed had been extremely impressive.
"Platinum..."
A helpless look appeared on Cynthia's face.
"Platinum joined Team Rocket. Seriously, I'm going to fine her someday."
Barry curled his lips.
"Yeah, right."
Despite sounding unhappy, he was actually upset about something else.
During the Lily of the Valley Conference, he found out Platinum had joined Team Rocket and was making tons of money there.
Yet she never invited him.
As Platinum's childhood friend from Twinleaf Town, Barry was genuinely annoyed about that.
"I see."
Wallace paused for a moment.
Then he looked around and lowered his voice.
Actually, it wasn't surprising anymore that the winner of Sinnoh's Lily of the Valley Conference had become a Team Rocket Executive.
And Sinnoh wasn't the only region like that.
Before Wallace could continue, Alder and Leon walked over from the distance.
Alder's expression looked terrible. He was grabbing Leon and nonstop complaining about something.
Leon also looked exhausted and kept sighing.
Meanwhile, Diantha calmly walked beside them with her bag over her shoulder.
"Look at those two. They're the real victims."
Wallace clicked his tongue.
Even though it was a bit rude, seeing Alder and Leon like this really made him want to laugh.
Steven and Cynthia exchanged strange looks.
Honestly, Wallace wasn't wrong.
Among all the regions, Unova and Galar had suffered badly.
"I heard Leon's chosen successor and even his younger brother joined Team Rocket."
Wallace lowered his voice further.
"And Unova, Kalos, and Alola had it even worse."
How could it not be bad?
In Cynthia's Sinnoh or Leon's Galar, only their chosen successors had switched sides.
But in Unova and Kalos, the actual Regional Champions had joined Team Rocket.
It was obvious why the Champions of those regions weren't here today.
"Only Paldea escaped. Team Rocket hasn't reached there yet."
Wallace sighed.
If this year had lasted another month or two, he felt Paldea probably wouldn't have stayed safe either.
"Cynthia! Steven! Wallace!"
A cheerful voice suddenly rang out nearby.
A girl with wheat-colored skin came running over while wearing the Naranja Academy uniform.
"Nemona. Long time no see."
Cynthia smiled slightly.
She actually liked Nemona quite a bit. The girl was full of energy and passion.
"Hehe! Long time no see!"
Nemona flashed a big grin.
Behind her were Paldea Champion Geeta and another braided girl wearing the same school uniform.
It was Juliana.
She had defeated Nemona during this year's Mesagoza Tournament and later challenged the Paldea League successfully, becoming Paldea's newest Champion-level Trainer.
Not long after, Giovanni personally came out to welcome everyone from the other regions.
Once everyone had arrived, he led them toward the lecture hall.
As for why they weren't using the conference room?
There weren't enough seats.
Charles Goodshow walked onto the stage and looked across the crowd below.
At that moment, he suddenly felt hopeful.
This was the full strength of the Pokémon League.
Maybe they really did have a chance against Team Rocket.
After all, the League had gathered an unbelievable number of Trainers.
Kanto Region: Giovanni, Lance, Agatha, Bruno, Lorelei, Red, Blue, Silver, Green, Ethan.
Hoenn Region: Steven, May, Wallace, Brandon.
Sinnoh Region: Cynthia, Barry.
Unova Region: Alder, Iris.
Kalos Region: Diantha.
Alola Region: Kukui, Hau.
Galar Region: Leon, Raihan, Mustard.
Paldea Region: Geeta, Juliana, Nemona.
More than twenty Trainers.
Still, the Champions of three regions had not appeared.
Charles Goodshow naturally knew why, but this was not something anyone could openly mention right now.
Even though everyone understood it.
Charles Goodshow's speech before the battle wasn't very long.
After he finished, Officer Jenny Mio walked onto the stage.
She would be serving as the commander for this operation.
"I'll keep this brief."
Officer Jenny Mio spoke clearly and directly.
"What we know right now is that the battle will take place in Saffron City. Team Rocket has kidnapped the President of Silph Co., so the center of the conflict will be the Silph Co. building."
"Officer Jenny, can I ask something?"
May immediately raised her hand.
"You may."
"Why did Team Rocket kidnap the Silph President?"
"The reason is still unclear, but we can confirm the incident is real."
May nodded and sat back down.
"Actually, the Silph President himself isn't the important part here. Team Rocket most likely won't hurt him. The important part is this battle."
Officer Jenny Mio calmly continued.
"We need to decide the outcome of this conflict with Team Rocket."
"The key issue is Team Rocket's strongest members."
Hearing this, May and Nemona looked slightly confused.
Wasn't this supposed to be a rescue mission?
Officer Jenny Mio noticed their expressions.
"I'll explain in detail now."
"First is the boss of Team Rocket, Damian."
A recent photo of Damian appeared on the giant screen behind her alongside his commonly used Pokémon.
"He is the main reason Team Rocket has become what it is today."
"If we cannot stop him, then winning this battle will be impossible."
Officer Jenny Mio's tone grew heavier.
"His strength is already among the highest Champion level. More importantly, he possesses several Legendary Pokémon."
Afterward, the screen changed again.
"Next are Team Rocket's Top Executives. According to our current information, Team Rocket has more than ten Champion-level Executives."
As Officer Jenny Mio pointed at the screen, names appeared one after another.
"Caitlin, Zinnia, N, Colress, Gladion, Platinum, Rosa, Hilda, Serena, Drayton, Kieran, Selene, Peony..."
"Wait."
Blue suddenly interrupted while sitting with his legs crossed.
"Officer Jenny, if I remember correctly, Rosa, Serena, and Selene are Regional Champions, right?"
The entire lecture hall suddenly became quiet.
Iris clicked her tongue while staring at the screen.
She had good relationships with both Rosa and Hilda.
There was also Drayton.
Drayton was Drayden's grandson, and Iris herself had been brought out of the Village of Dragons by Drayden when she was young.
Naturally, she knew him well.
If Drayden found out Drayton had chosen Team Rocket over the League, who knew how he would react?
"That is correct."
Officer Jenny Mio answered calmly.
"But this time, they are fighting for Team Rocket."
"Tch."
Blue clicked his tongue but said nothing else.
What else was there to say?
Even Regional Champions had chosen Team Rocket's side.
Blue wanted to ask more questions, but he wasn't stupid.
Continuing to push the issue now would only make things awkward.
"These are all the Top Executives we currently know about. Everyone should remember them carefully."
"Of course, there may still be Executives we haven't discovered yet."
"In short, if you encounter them on the battlefield, proceed carefully. If possible, capturing them alive would be the ideal outcome."
Officer Jenny Mio spoke seriously.
After all, captured Executives could become important bargaining chips once the battle was over.
The meeting lasted a very long time before finally ending.
"This is getting interesting. Team Rocket, huh..."
Blue stretched lazily, an excited grin appearing on his face.
Honestly, in his eyes, the League should win this battle.
The lineup gathered this time was unprecedented.
Still, what truly surprised him was how strong Team Rocket had become.
More than ten Champion-level Trainers.
That was insane.
"By the way, Red, where's Ash?"
Ethan asked curiously.
The two of them had gotten along pretty well after meeting during the Indigo League.
Red shook his head.
He also didn't know why Ash hadn't come.
"Don't worry about it. Ash definitely won't miss something this big."
Blue spoke casually.
"Red! Let's compete properly this time! We'll see who catches more Team Rocket Executives!"
Blue immediately challenged Red again.
Losing to Red at the Indigo League still made him furious.
He refused to accept it.
Red: "..."
Meanwhile, on the other side...
"I seriously can't believe it. Rosa actually said Damian was her man and that she wouldn't let the League bully him."
Alder looked exhausted as he complained nonstop.
"Who could even bully Damian at this point?"
"And now look at this mess. The Unova Champion is going to help Team Rocket fight against me and Iris. What kind of situation is this?"
Alder rubbed his forehead.
And it wasn't just Rosa.
Hilda was there too.
After Rosa ran off to Team Rocket, he still had to come all the way to Indigo Plateau for this meeting.
Honestly, he didn't want to be here at all.
"Sigh..."
Leon also looked miserable.
"There's also Drayton, Mister."
Iris quietly added another sentence.
"Oh right! Drayton too! I practically watched that kid grow up!"
Alder looked even more frustrated.
"If you think about it, Unova really contributed a lot of people to Team Rocket."
Wallace suddenly spoke while counting on his fingers.
"N, Colress, Rosa, Hilda, Drayton, and Kieran from Blueberry Academy. That's already six."
The others all looked at Alder with strange expressions.
Thinking about it carefully, it really was true.
Before this, everyone thought the Unova League was weak.
But now that they counted it out, Unova had actually contributed the most Top Executives to Team Rocket.
Alder: "..."
"By the way, do you all think we can beat Team Rocket tomorrow?"
Nemona quickly changed the subject.
"Hehe... we'll probably win, right?"
Alder sounded very uncertain.
"This battle definitely won't be easy."
Steven answered honestly after thinking for a moment.
"We'll just do our best."
This was Cynthia's answer.
"You all go deal with Damian. I'll personally teach those juniors a lesson for joining Team Rocket."
This was Wallace.
"I'm going after Hop. If any of you see him tomorrow, tell me immediately."
This was Leon.
At that moment, his eyes burned with determination.
"Caitlin..."
Cynthia's eyes flickered slightly.
She was thinking about someone.
Let's settle this tomorrow, Caitlin.