The Elite Four

After seeing the three Starters, Qing Wu unhesitatingly chose Snivy.

He was currently in need of a Grass-type Sprite, and Snivy, with its Contrary ability, was a super powerful special attacker, known as a walking turret.

After Qing Wu picked Snivy, he handed the remaining two Poké Balls to Kaminari.

Kaminari knew that Ailian already had a Houndoom and didn't need a Fire-type main Pokémon, so he chose Tepig.

Ailian took the last Poké Ball handed over by Kaminari and saw it was Oshawott.

Her eyes immediately lit up with joy. All three were extremely satisfied with this distribution.

"Ahem," Cang said, seeing the joyful expressions on all three of them. He assumed they were all extremely pleased with the three Starters.

Cang cleared his throat twice. When he saw everyone's attention focused on him, he quickly said to the three of them.

"Are you willing to join the Dark Department?"

Just as Qing Wu was about to nod in agreement, Cang quickly added, "Except for Qing Wu."

Seeing Qing Wu's expressionless face, Cang explained, "Leader Sakaki has already requested you. He said he wants to send you on a secret mission, so you are assigned to the Dark Department, but you won't be under our command. You will be directly under Leader Sakaki's jurisdiction."

After hearing this, Qing Wu felt a slight bitterness in his heart. This is another undercover mission, isn't it? The previous undercover mission with Team Aqua had scared Qing Wu.

"Alas, just as I finished speaking, Leader Sakaki sent a mission request. It requires you to join the Hoenn League and become a high-ranking official. The spies Team Rocket had previously planted in the Hoenn League have all been purged."

"Now we have no idea about the Hoenn League's movements. Team Rocket will provide you with necessary support," Cang said earnestly after seeing the message from Leader Sakaki.

"I understand," Qing Wu replied expressionlessly, making Cang's heart suddenly flutter.

"We are willing to join the Dark Department," Kaminari and Ailian said in unison, their expressions very respectful.

Qing Wu had previously analyzed the internal factions of Team Rocket with Kaminari and Ailian. Only the Dark Department was directly managed by Leader Sakaki.

The Dark Department was mainly responsible for apprehending defecting Team Rocket members, investigating any corruption or illegal activities within Team Rocket, and probing the League's movements.

Every member of the Dark Department was an elite among elites.

Qing Wu's attitude towards the Dark Department was that it was very dangerous once you joined. Every mission carried the risk of death.

However, the benefits of the Dark Department were also very good. One could have sufficient resources to train their own Sprites and gain opportunities for rapid growth.

The attitude of the Dark Department leaders, Cang and Qiong, towards Sprites was also a rare concept of peaceful coexistence and mutual development between humans and Sprites, which aligned well with Qing Wu's current values.

"Good, good, good," Cang said three times, his face breaking into a smile, the wrinkles so deep they could kill a mosquito.

"Let me tell you about the benefits of joining the Dark Department."

"First, after joining the Dark Department, promotions are fast. As long as you can complete designated missions, you can be promoted immediately."

"Second, you will be respected. Our Dark Department has an extraordinary status within Team Rocket. Every Team Rocket member becomes extremely respectful upon hearing our name."

"Third, the treatment is high. Squad Leaders can receive Rocket Points monthly."

"..."

Cang spoke flowery words, not much different from a large pyramid scheme organization.

To win over Kaminari and Ailian, he praised the Dark Department as the best team in Team Rocket, without any exceptions.

Hmph, Qing Wu understood what was going on in his heart but chose not to expose it.

"The promotions are fast because the Dark Department has suffered some personnel losses, and there are many vacant positions above. Besides the two of you, there are probably only a handful of people below."

"The Dark Department's status in Team Rocket is naturally superior. Once they appear before other Team Rocket members, even with concrete evidence that a Team Rocket member has committed a crime, they will try to appease the Dark Department members to suffer less."

"The treatment is indeed high," Qing Wu also decided to join the Dark Department because of its good treatment.

However, there was one thing Qing Wu could be sure of: after Kaminari and Ailian joined the Dark Department and received strong training from its leaders, they would surely soar like dragons in the sea, reaching unprecedented heights.

Originally, Kaminari and Ailian were already skilled trainers. With the strong cultivation from the Dark Department leaders, they would surely advance to Elite Four level trainers at a much faster pace than in their previous lives.

As for the possibility of them perishing during missions, Qing Wu couldn't guarantee it. However, Qing Wu felt that Kaminari and Ailian, who had reached the Elite Four level in their previous lives, were people with great fortune.

Cang spoke for nearly an hour. When he was hoarse from talking, he took out three shiny silver badges from under his Black Robe.

"These are your identity badges for joining the Dark Department. They have a string of numbers which are your Team Rocket internal account and password. Welcome to the Dark Department," Cang said enthusiastically and started clapping.

Qiong, with a smiling face, shook hands with Qing Wu and the other two.

"If you have any problems, communicate with me promptly. These are your communicators," Qiong handed a brand-new communicator to each of them.

Qing Wu took it and looked. Good heavens, this isn't the latest model of Team Rocket's custom communicator. I didn't expect it to be developed so early.

Cang glared fiercely at Qiong. He had overlooked preparing communicators and Qiong had gotten ahead of him, which made Cang very displeased.

"Then we'll take our leave," Qing Wu planned to go to the exchange first to get some TMs for his Sprites, and also to discuss the future training direction for Kaminari's and Ailian's Sprites.

After Qing Wu and the other two left, Qiong said to Cang with a fawning expression, "Brother, share a good prospect for me to train." Qiong had seen something he liked.

"Get lost," Cang's temper flared up, and he spat out the word through gritted teeth.

"As soon as you sent out the communicators before me, I knew your scheme, you brat. Our relationship is over," Cang snorted proudly.

"Leader," Kaminari and Ailian respectfully called out to Qing Wu after returning to the Team Rocket dormitory.

"Don't be too formal. The rewards from this trial have also exceeded my expectations," Qing Wu looked at the Poké Ball in his hand.

This Poké Ball was a Great Ball, and an arrogant Snivy was sleeping inside.

"Yeah, it's always only the first-place winner who gets to pick from the Starters. I never expected them to let the top three pick this time. We really hit the jackpot," Kaminari said gleefully.

"I wonder what kind of potential these Starters have," Ailian mused, looking at the Poké Ball in her hand.

"All three of these Starters have Azure-tier potential. Keep this quiet, don't let certain people get jealous," Qing Wu said solemnly to Kaminari and Ailian.

Team Rocket was rife with factions, and the competition was quite fierce.

When you possessed Poké Balls with Pokémon of excellent potential, the best course of action before they grew was to keep a low profile. This was commonly known as "playing it safe to develop."

"Joining Team Rocket's Dark Department is both an opportunity and a risk. You need to handle it carefully. Everyone, pay attention: it's better to have a few quality Pokémon than many. If you catch too many and can't take care of them, you'll end up hindering both the Pokémon and yourselves," Qing Wu reminded them again.

"Ailian, you should assign the members of your team under you and Kaminari as small squad leaders. They are all rare talents. If you encounter any problems, send me an urgent message through the communicator, and I'll reply once I see it."

"As for those fence-sitters who want to join you recently, don't take any of them. These people are the most opportunistic; they'll step on you when you're in trouble, and when they see you gaining power, they'll get active again, wanting to curry favor with you. There's no such thing as a free lunch," Qing Wu declared, passing a death sentence on the opportunists.

"I understand, Leader," Kaminari and Ailian replied, indicating they knew what to do. Qing Wu then set off for the exchange area with peace of mind.

However, on his way to the exchange area, another familiar person stopped Qing Wu.