Chapter 263: I'm With Team Rocket — I Have ID, Thank You
"No need to keep arguing — come at me together, all of you."
Jupiter's voice came out cold and clipped. She had never, in her entire life, been looked down on quite like this. A humiliation! An absolute humiliation!
"Snot-nosed brats like you, not knowing your place — I've handled more of your kind than I can count."
Jupiter sent out both her Poké Balls with a cold smile, and a Bronzong and a Skuntank appeared before her.
"Strong presence — Elite Four-tier at least, probably. No wonder she's this bold," Nora said, narrowing her eyes slightly as she studied Jupiter's lineup, drawing her own conclusions. Well — as far as Nora was concerned, anyone capable of saying "come at me together" like that was, by definition, being arrogant.
Jupiter, unsurprisingly, didn't see it that way at all. Hearing that bun-haired girl across the way call her arrogant, Jupiter felt a boulder settle in her chest, choking her with sheer indignation. Who exactly is being arrogant here?! You lot are literally fighting over the "distribution rights" to me, standing right in front of my face — and I'm the arrogant one?!
"This woman's got some real skill. You lot probably can't handle her — leave her to me and Touko," Nora said, brimming with confidence, ready to step forward. Elite Four-tier, perfect. Elite Four-tier is exactly right. That way, none of these students or that stuck-up "young lady" could steal the credit.
"Hold on, gorgeous — who says we can't handle her?" Dulse spoke up. He'd been thinking pretty much the same thing as Nora, honestly, just hadn't gotten the words out first. "This particular lady? Wulin could pin her down one-handed, easy — and I'd bet the other executive's about the same level. My Dragon-type team can handle it fine."
Dulse wasn't about to hand Jupiter and Saturn over that easily. Bronzong and Skuntank? Wulin could demolish both without breaking a sweat. Wulin's team was genuinely excellent — he had an Incineroar in there that completely shut down troublesome Bronzong matchups. Wulin gave a small nod, confirming he was confident.
Jupiter's expression darkened further, her face twitching nonstop.
"Says you and it's true, just like that? Don't get cocky, students," Nora said, thoroughly displeased. She'd known it — these students showing up meant they'd try to steal all the merit points.
"How little faith do you have in us, gorgeous? Tell you what, let's spar once this operation's wrapped up?" Dulse's mouth twitched, eyeing Nora with narrowed eyes.
"Sure, I'd love nothing more. Perfect chance to teach you students what real battling looks like."
The tension between the two groups was clearly climbing fast.
"Ahem— um, I feel like, regardless, one of the two executives here should go to me? I'm actually a Sinnoh native," a timid voice cut in. Platinum.
She'd suddenly felt like these visitors from Unova were being a bit rude, and honestly rather overwhelming — enough that she barely dared speak up. But she wanted merit points too, badly enough to redeem a legendary Pokémon of her own.
Nora and Dulse both turned sharply toward Platinum at once. That intense, sharp look startled the Berlitz heir badly enough that she instinctively took two steps back.
"Is... something wrong?" Platinum said, her voice weakening further.
Seeing this, Nora and Dulse both looked away again — this young lady wasn't worth their attention, clearly the shy, easily-flustered type. Not worth bothering with; ignore her, and she'd "withdraw" from contention on her own.
Seeing Nora and Dulse ignore her outright, Platinum felt a mix of urgency and quiet dejection. Exactly as Nora and Dulse had guessed, speaking up those two sentences had already used up all of Platinum's available "courage." As the treasured daughter of the Berlitz family, Platinum had been raised from childhood to be composed and refined — competing and grabbing things the way Nora did simply wasn't in her nature. Caitlin, admittedly, carried a somewhat similar temperament, though Caitlin's ran more toward proud aloofness, looking down on ordinary people from some imagined higher plane. Platinum wasn't like that at all.
"Lady."
Paul glanced at Jupiter, whose face had gone dark enough to practically drip water, then looked over at Nora and Dulse still locked in their "heated debate," thoughtful. He'd already noticed — Nora and the rest didn't consider Platinum a real "competitor" at all.
"What is it, Paul?" Platinum was still agonizing, trying to think of what to say to press her case.
"Don't waste your breath on them. Just go take both executives down yourself," Paul said flatly. As a fellow Sinnoh native, he naturally sided with Platinum's interests without a second thought. If his own strength were up to it, he'd have already ambushed Jupiter and Saturn himself rather than standing around arguing like this.
"That's— wouldn't that be a bit much?" Platinum blinked, then hesitated, conflicted. Hasn't the question of who gets those two even been settled yet?
"Nothing wrong with it at all. Merit points in hand are the only ones that count. And did Lord Mammon ever say executives get allocated by turn order?" Paul was the one person here with a clear head on his shoulders. He genuinely thought Platinum was being too "naive" about this — but no matter, with him as her tactical advisor, there was no way Platinum was going home empty-handed.
"Go challenge those two executives right now, seize the initiative. I'll support you from the side." Paul had already readied a Pokémon with Helping Hand and everything!! Platinum got the meat, he'd get to sip the broth — perfectly practical arrangement.
"Don't hesitate. Just commit to it." Seeing Platinum still wavering, Paul found it hard to keep a straight face. Girl, why are you being this shy about it? We're fighting an evil organization here — there's zero need to worry about tactics being "fair" against an evil organization. And Nora's crew are just rival contenders from another region anyway — this isn't a sanctioned battle, why bother with etiquette?
"Are you sure this is really okay?" Platinum found herself swayed.
"Trust me, Lady — this is our organization's turf here in Sinnoh, of course it should be us Sinnoh natives handling it. Those people have no real claim to argue with us over it in the first place!" Paul said quickly, voice low.
"Are you confident you can take both of those executives?"
"I can do it!"
Platinum's resolve firmed, and she pulled out a Poké Ball, eyeing Jupiter and Saturn.
"Pheromosa!"
A flash of white light, and the elegant, proud Pheromosa landed gracefully in front of Platinum. She'd only had Pheromosa for two days, but it had already been Elite Four-caliber the moment she caught it, letting her deploy it directly as a frontline fighter. Garchomp and Pheromosa flanked Platinum on either side — Empoleon, though technically her ace, had less offensive pressure than either of the two, so she left it benched for this.
"They haven't noticed us yet, and that executive looks about ready to blow her top anyway. Lady, go now," Paul said, glancing at Nora's group, entirely calm as he spoke to Platinum. What's the point of endless arguing? Better to just act. Credit had to be seized, not talked about — all that time spent bickering could've been better spent just striking first. Paul felt rather pleased with his own good sense here.
"Electivire, Magmortar, use Helping Hand!"
Paul gave his own Pokémon the order at once. Electivire and Magmortar both used Helping Hand simultaneously on Garchomp and Pheromosa. Normal-type Helping Hand — boosts the power of the target's next move!
"Garchomp, Dragon Ascent!"
"Pheromosa, Focus Blast!"
Platinum gave the orders decisively.
"These damn brats!" Jupiter was shaking with fury by now, watching these upstarts still arguing over her "ownership rights" — she was about ready to explode.
"Bronzong! Psy—"
They were going to pay for this!
But before Jupiter could finish the order—
"Jupiter! Watch out!"
Saturn's pupils contracted sharply, shouting the warning at once.
Jupiter's hackles rose too, catching the sight from the corner of her eye — a ferocious dragon baring its claws, closing in fast. Dragon-type Dragon Ascent!
"Skuntank! Use Protect!" Jupiter shouted at Skuntank hastily.
But it was too late — far too rushed.
BOOM!
Garchomp's Dragon Ascent slammed hard into Skuntank, the fierce impact wringing a pained shriek from it, the specially reinforced flooring beneath them starting to crack from the force. Garchomp bore down and drove Skuntank clean through the floor, down to the third level below. Fortunately no one happened to be down there, or there'd have been real trouble.
But simultaneously, another crash rang out.
Jupiter's face turned genuinely awful as Pheromosa's Focus Blast slammed hard into Bronzong, detonating on impact, a powerful shockwave sweeping outward. Bronzong staggered back from the blow — sure, Focus Blast wasn't super effective against Bronzong, but Pheromosa's special attack stat was brutally strong regardless.
"Drill Run!" Platinum pressed the order forward.
Pheromosa's slender body spun rapidly, drilling forward like a spinning bit straight at Bronzong. Ground-type Drill Run! A Golurk materialized in front of Bronzong, using Protect to absorb the strike.
Seeing the attack blocked, Pheromosa flipped backward gracefully, landing with elegant poise, flicking her long, gorgeous hair, staring down Golurk and Bronzong with proud disdain.
"How is she this strong?!" Jupiter's expression turned dark as still water, though privately she was every bit as stunned, staring at the refined, delicate-looking Platinum. She's so young — how is her strength this overwhelming? Could it be these brats weren't actually being arrogant, but genuinely had the power to back it up? Impossible! This can't be happening!
The commotion from Garchomp and Pheromosa's opening strike, naturally, drew Nora and the rest's attention immediately.
"That's not sportsmanlike!"
"She jumped the gun! That's incredibly underhanded!!"
"Damn it! This is all your fault — if you hadn't wasted my time, I'd have already taken those two down myself by now!"
Seeing Platinum "sneak ahead," Nora's group was thoroughly shocked. Dulse and the others' scolding made Platinum's pale, delicate face flush red — she really was the thin-skinned type. Good thing Paul had thick enough skin for both of them.
"You're the ones who didn't act. Ever hear the saying 'the early bird gets the worm'? Who told you all to keep arguing about it — what if she'd gotten away in the meantime?" Paul said, flat and unbothered, not feeling the least bit guilty — if anything, entirely self-righteous about it. He casually had Electivire throw another round of Helping Hand at Garchomp while he was at it. As for Magmortar — no telling where it had wandered off to.
"Fine, FINE! Hydreigon, Dragon Pulse!" Nora, done arguing, sent Hydreigon straight into the fight without further ceremony. Fine, then — let's see who takes these two down first.
Dulse and the others immediately followed suit, throwing their own strongest Pokémon into the fray. The scene descended into complete chaos in an instant.
Jupiter and Saturn scrambled frantically to handle the incoming assault, sweat already soaking through their clothes. Nora's group fielded genuinely powerful lineups and had them badly outnumbered besides — Jupiter and Saturn were only two people. Two against five — absolutely no advantage there at all. These damn brats, utterly shameless!
But what no one noticed was a dark gray Magmortar quietly circling around behind Jupiter and Saturn.
The corner of Paul's mouth curled into a cold smile. These people were still fixated on beating Jupiter and Saturn in a straight fight — hadn't even thought to change tactics. Why bother with honor and fair play against an evil organization's executives? Just grab them directly and it's over, isn't it?
As for whether this approach might be considered a bit underhanded, a bit sneaky — Paul was fully prepared to flash his own Team Rocket ID if anyone asked.
You're calling me sneaky? I'm a member of Team Rocket. I've got a license personally issued by Lord Mammon himself, thank you very much.
Yeah — Paul suddenly found this whole "Team Rocket member" identity rather useful, in certain situations. Once you opened your mind to it, a whole new world of possibilities opened right up with it.
(End of Chapter)
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