By the time Hakuya finished his stroll and returned to the Pokémon Center, he found Misty already asleep on the bed, completely dead to the world.
Perhaps it was because she had spent so many nights recently acting as a late-night angler, so now that she finally had a large Pokémon Center bed to sleep in, she abandoned all ladylike image, sprawling across the mattress and letting out soft breaths.
Seeing this, Hakuya chose not to disturb the sleeping girl. He simply pulled up the blanket that was about to slip onto the floor, slightly covering her modest figure, placed the local Viridian City specialty sandwiches he had bought on the nightstand, and quietly closed the door as he left.
It was getting late, finally time for some relaxing, beautiful sleep.
But not long after, Milcery's eyes widened in disbelief as she watched Sprigatito swiftly dart onto the bed, arch her back slightly, and completely take over their Trainer's embrace.
Dammit, how can you be so selfish?!
After a chaotic flurry of flying fur and sweet cream, the two of them, unable to determine a clear victor, were forced to reach a friendly truce.
—Since they both wanted to sleep in their Trainer's arms, they would just have to split him fifty-fifty. Absolutely no monopolizing allowed.
"I feel like I've just become a custom body pillow for you two..."
Looking at Sprigatito and Milcery, who had made this arrangement entirely on their own without asking for his opinion, Hakuya's mouth twitched slightly. But in the end, he just gave up, lying flat on the bed and letting them burrow in.
Holding Sprigatito felt like embracing a fluffy, warm presence; the tips of her ears, her paw pads, and her belly were the softest, most sensitive areas.
If she were to knead his chest with her paws, she would release a sweet fragrance unique to the Sprigatito line.
Compared to Sprigatito, Milcery felt more like fresh whipped cream just taken out of the fridge, carrying the cool temperature of chilled jade. As soon as he touched her, there was a cold, silky-smooth sensation.
At this moment, even as the night outside the window grew darker, Hakuya couldn't help but feel that something was missing.
It wasn't that he forgot to drink a glass of water before bed, nor was it some errand he had forgotten to run earlier. It felt like he was missing some major event that was supposed to happen at this specific time.
What could it be...
Just as Hakuya was tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep, a sharp alarm suddenly blared through the Pokémon Center.
"Emergency alert! Emergency alert!"
"Viridian City has been infiltrated by outsiders! It is highly likely to be a Pokémon kidnapping syndicate!"
"That's the stuff! This is exactly what was missing—"
Hakuya's eyes lit up, and he practically launched himself out of bed, nearly scaring the fur right off Sprigatito.
In the original anime storyline, tonight was the exact night the Team Rocket trio raided the Pokémon Center.
By the time he threw his clothes on and rushed over with Sprigatito and Milcery to watch the drama unfold, the main hall of the Pokémon Center was already a chaotic mess.
Trainers, startled by the broadcast, gathered in the hall in twos and threes, all looking upwards.
Accompanied by the sharp, crisp sound of shattering glass from the skylight, two Poké Balls, wrapped in falling glass shards, plummeted into the room. They bounced twice on the floor before a thick smokescreen created by Koffing completely enveloped the surrounding area.
Even though people were coughing and covering their mouths and noses, unable to speak, they could still vaguely make out the silhouettes of the intruders behind the smoke.
A woman, a man, and a Meowth standing on two legs?
"Cough, cough..."
Turning his head and seeing Ash rushing over in a panic, Hakuya was just about to warn him not to speak when the hot-headed kid confidently strode to the front of the crowd and shouted at the mysterious trio hiding in the smoke.
"Who are you people?!"
—The following content requires full recitation—
At this moment, hearing that someone was finally willing to pay attention to them—and asking with such an utterly shocked tone—the trio, who had been holding their poses for several minutes and were clearly choking on the smoke themselves, coughed a few times before responding with absolute professional dedication.
"Prepare for trouble!"
Three figures gradually emerged from the smoke.
"And make it double!"
Jessie raised a hand, tucking a stray lock of magenta hair behind her ear, her chin tilted slightly upwards.
"To protect the world from devastation!"
James, holding a vibrant red rose, elegantly picked up the line.
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
The two stood on the left and right, their coordination so perfect it was like a meticulously choreographed stage performance.
"Jessie!" "James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!"
Jumping out from nowhere, Meowth landed smoothly on the ground, striking a pose that practically screamed, Hurry up and give me the Pay Day coin, as he finished the motto.
Hearing this familiar introductory speech, Hakuya couldn't help but let his mouth twitch.
—Iconic Scene Check-in: +1.
"Team Rocket? What kind of organization is that?"
A random trainer from the Unova region asked the real question.
"Hiss... I think they're supposed to be a really famous evil syndicate in the Kanto region. But are these three really members of the legendary, ruthless Team Rocket?" A local Kanto trainer stared suspiciously at the trio before them.
As for Hakuya, who already knew the plot inside and out.
He was currently taking the time to refresh the bounty board on a machine in the Pokémon Center.
"I didn't expect the Viridian City Police Department to react so quickly. In just two minutes, the bounty on the Team Rocket trio jumped from 1,000 League Dollars to 100,000..."
1,000 League Dollars was the standard bounty for assisting in the arrest of petty thieves.
Now, because they had violently forced their way into a Pokémon Center, their bounty had skyrocketed to 100,000.
"100,000? That's almost as much as the savings I built up from elbowing dozens of overpowered NPCs."
Even with a strong mind tempered by the brutal trials of the Randomized Emerald, Hakuya couldn't help but rub his hands together in excitement.
He was pretty short on cash right now.
He couldn't just stay in the Pokémon Center as a freeloader forever; sooner or later, he'd end up on Nurse Joy's blacklist.
Besides that, he wanted to save up money to stock up on Poké Balls so he could catch some of the broken, over-statted monsters in the Emerald world and play around with a "wheelchair" (cheese) team.
After Team Rocket finished their introductory speech, it was still Ash who scratched his head, clearly failing to grasp why these three were here.
"What exactly are you guys trying to do?"
"Hmph, as Team Rocket, of course we're here to steal Pokémon."
Jessie crossed her arms over her chest and scoffed.
"Don't you dare touch my..."
Ash was about to blurt out a warning for the trio not to lay a hand on his Pikachu, but when he turned his head, he realized his Pikachu wasn't beside him. Instead, it had run off to the back of the Pokémon Center to mingle with the local Pikachu horde responsible for the backup generator.
Right now, not only Ash, but the vast majority of trainers present didn't have any Pokémon capable of fighting Team Rocket.
Due to injuries sustained during their travels, many people's Pokémon were still waiting for treatment.
Hearing the commotion, Misty naturally stepped up to stop Team Rocket's invasion, given her status as a Gym Leader.
However, not long after, looking at her Goldeen—which was just flopping around on the floor performing a waterless Splash due to the lack of an aquatic battlefield—she silently recalled it, hid behind Hakuya, and went into the corner to draw circles on the floor in depression.
"Ugh... my Goldeen."
Hakuya was just about to ask why she didn't send out Starmie to battle, but then he remembered that Misty's Starmie had just been brutally beaten during special training with Milcery that morning. Even now, it probably hadn't fully recovered.
Thinking of this, Hakuya simply shut his mouth, deciding not to rub salt in the young girl's wounds.
He felt that if things kept going like this, Misty would eventually be completely broken by his actions—
"Whatever, I'll just handle this."
Shaking his head, Hakuya sent out Sprigatito, preparing to arrest Team Rocket and claim the bounty.
Although he was very grateful for the trio's generous "gift" on the streets earlier, if they wanted to act like robbers invading a Pokémon Center, they had to accept the punishment meant for robbers. Be good little grunts, eat the League's prison slop, and wait for Giovanni to bail you out!
"Sprigatito, let's make this quick."
"Meowha~" Sprigatito nodded in response.
"What kind of Pokémon is that?"
As expected, the moment Sprigatito took the stage, a wave of surprised murmurs rippled through the crowd.
And amidst the background noise of random trainers pulling out their Pokédexes, only to unanimously hear "No data found," the Team Rocket trio exchanged knowing glances. They then turned their backs to the crowd and began openly discussing among themselves right there in public.
"It's the Pokémon belonging to that handsome guy we ran into on the street earlier~ It's so cute and fluffy~"
This was Jessie, her girlish heart overflowing as she gasped.
"Hmm, no matter how many times I search, I can't find any data on this Pokémon..."
This was James, whispering to himself as he was deeply engrossed in searching through his machine's database.
"So that means it's an extremely rare Pokémon that's never been seen before, meow~"
Meowth raised his paw, drawing the final conclusion.
If they could capture this rare Pokémon and present it to the boss, Giovanni, then...
A promotion, a raise, and becoming executives would be just around the corner!
"Alright, since they're both cats, let's have Meowth handle this!"
James waved his hand grandly, decisively sending Meowth—a fellow feline Pokémon—forward to battle.
Although Meowth wasn't exactly a professional combatant, the Pokémon in front of them looked like nothing more than a cute little mascot. In a real fight, there was no way it could be a match for Meowth, right?
"Sprigatito, use Leaf Storm... oh wait, use Leafage... remember to hold back a little."
Facing Meowth's fierce onslaught of [Fury Swipes], Hakuya was just about to go all out. But then he remembered Sprigatito's absolutely terrifying offensive output nowadays. He had to mentally prepare himself a few times before finally issuing the command.
"Meowha~"
Sprigatito arched her back slightly, and in an instant, thousands of leaves materialized around her.
"W-Wait a minute..."
Meowth desperately tried to brake his momentum.
For some reason, seeing this starting stance, the Team Rocket trio got a very bad feeling in the pits of their stomachs.
The reality was exactly as they feared.
—An emerald-green tornado erupted from the ground in the center of the room. The leaves scraped against each other, emitting a dense, sharp sound like countless jade shards colliding at high speeds. The sound gradually coalesced into a deep, thunderous roar, rattling the glass windows until they hummed.
First, fine, spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the glass. Then, with a crack, the entire window pane shattered like a glacier cleaved by a giant blade, exploding into countless diamond-shaped shards. Immediately following this, the blades of leaves swept forward, beginning a brutal, indiscriminate bombardment.
In the blink of an eye, the Team Rocket trio, accompanied by their classic echoing cry of "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!", turned into a twinkle in the distant sky. The surrounding trainers, who had watched the whole thing unfold, swallowed hard and collectively gasped.
At this moment, it wasn't just Team Rocket that had been blown away. Under the sheer force of the [Leafage] attack, the walls of the Pokémon Center had also collapsed, reducing the building to half-ruins.
Is your Pokémon really legal?!
Misty, finally snapping out of her depression, tilted her head and exclaimed in shock.
"Hiss... why do I feel like your Sprigatito got even stronger, Hakuya?"
Could it be that when he said he was just wandering around Viridian City, he was actually secretly power-leveling again?!
"..."
Staring at the Pokémon Center, which was rapidly turning into a pile of rubble, Hakuya was completely dumbfounded.
His original plan was to catch the Team Rocket trio and claim that sweet 100,000 League Dollar bounty. But now that they had been blasted into orbit, forget the bounty—with the Pokémon Center wrecked like this, wasn't there a chance he'd have to pay part of the repair costs?!
Gulping, Hakuya instinctively threw all his League Dollars into his System Backpack. Then, grabbing Misty—who was still mourning over "why Hakuya is secretly grinding without me"—he retreated behind the crowd.
The plan to stay long-term in Viridian City was officially canceled. He felt the urge to slip away early tomorrow morning before any penalty notices were issued.
"Meow... meowha..."
Seeing this, Sprigatito awkwardly looked away.
It couldn't be helped. Even though Hakuya had specifically told her to hold back, after adapting to the intense battles in the Randomized Emerald, it was honestly pretty hard to control her strength when returning to reality.
It was like playing in high-rank competitive lobbies all the time, and then suddenly getting invited to play a casual low-rank match with friends. No matter how much you told yourself to blend in with the current skill bracket, once the fight started, you'd accidentally end up nuking the local noob lobby.
If she hadn't realized something was wrong halfway through, the Pokémon Center probably wouldn't even have half a wall left right now.
"Hakuya's Sprigatito is so strong~"
Not far away, Ash let out a gasp of admiration.
If his initial impression from afar was just mild shock, then after witnessing Sprigatito's battle with his own eyes, Ash now had a much clearer and more accurate assessment of Hakuya's strength.
—He absolutely possessed a terrifying level of power, easily on par with a Gym Leader.
"If I get the chance, I definitely have to challenge Hakuya."
Even now, Ash hadn't forgotten the small goal he had set for himself: to catch up to Hakuya.
He even tried to hype up the Pikachu next to him.
"I bet it would be an incredible, hot-blooded battle. Pikachu, you come with me too!"
"Pika?"
The yellow mouse, who had only just finished mingling with the generator-running Pikachu horde, looked up. He first glanced at the ruins of the Pokémon Center, then looked at Ash with a face full of question marks.
Am I supposed to fight too?
"Yeah."
Ash nodded frantically like a Torchic pecking at rice.
Seeing this, Pikachu didn't hesitate for a second. He immediately shuffled dozens of steps to the side, desperately trying to distance himself from the fired-up Ash.
"Pika... Pikachu!!!"