Sudden Upheaval

Bang!

Rattata's body was swept up by a violent gust, then slammed hard into the ground, rolling twice.

"Rattata!"

Shuangye hurried forward. Just as she was about to pick Rattata up, she saw it spring to its feet full of energy.

"Are you okay?" Shuangye looked at Rattata worriedly. It answered her with a loud squeak.

Heiduo and Serea stood off to the side, both somewhat helpless.

This girl truly had no awareness of what Pokémon battles were like. The moment Rattata suffered even the slightest injury, she rushed over to fuss over it, as if she did not take their battle seriously at all.

"Shuangye, this won't do." Heiduo had no intention of indulging her and bluntly said, "In a Pokémon battle, one side is bound to get hurt. If you want to become a Pokémon Trainer, this is something you must go through."

From what Heiduo had seen so far, Shuangye's personality was rather innocent and carefree. She possessed compassion and kindness fitting for her age. Although she longed for Pokémon battles, she could not emotionally accept seeing her own Pokémon get hurt. As for her knowledge of Pokémon battles, she knew even less than Heiduo, a transmigrator.

That was not necessarily a bad thing.

But unfortunately, if she wanted to become a Pokémon Trainer, she was clearly unqualified.

And Team Rocket's Special Training Camp happened to cultivate Pokémon Trainers skilled in battle.

It was vastly different from the Pokémon League, where careers were diverse and every profession had its masters.

Shuangye's personality was better suited to becoming a Breeder or Coordinator.

Though those two professions also could not do without Pokémon battles, their competition was nowhere near as brutal as that of Pokémon Trainers.

Shuangye had come to the wrong place.

Team Rocket needed Breeders, but in Kanto. Team Rocket in Johto needed to establish itself, and Trainers were what they wanted.

"...Okay." Shuangye lowered her head, looking somewhat dejected.

She was not stupid and could naturally see her own problem. But to her, what she did was almost instinctive. Whenever she saw Rattata get hurt, she could not help rushing over. It was simply beyond her control.

Seeing Shuangye like that, Serea could not bear it and said, "Shuangye, how about—"

"No! I won't give up! I will definitely become a powerful Pokémon Trainer!" Thinking Serea was going to persuade her to quit, Shuangye puffed out her cheeks and stared stubbornly at Serea.

You're not suited for it. You don't have the talent.

She had heard words like that countless times, but not once had they made her want to give up.

Call her foolish or clueless if they wanted. If other people's words could stop her, she would never have come to Team Rocket.

Serea's expression did not change as she slowly said, "What I mean is, why not start from the beginning? If you don't mind, learn from me. I'll teach you how to battle with Pokémon!"

Shuangye's mouth formed an O.

Heiduo looked at Serea in astonishment. He had only known her for two days, but this was the first time he had heard something so close to arrogance come from her mouth.

In the Pokémon League, anyone qualified to teach at a Pokémon School was at least an elite Trainer. Yet Serea was a new recruit from the same batch as them. Where did she get the confidence to say something like that?

Combined with Serea's command skills, which were clearly worlds apart from those of a novice Trainer, and her reason for joining Team Rocket—a reason she could not tell him but promised would never harm him—

Heiduo had no choice but to suspect Serea's identity. Did she know Heiduo? What did she want from him?

Just as Heiduo was speculating about Serea's true identity—

Red lights suddenly lit up above their heads.

Beep—beep—!!

The dazzling red glow filled every corner of their vision.

"Members whose names are called, please proceed to the assembly hall immediately!"

"Members whose names are called, please proceed to the assembly hall immediately!"

The announcement repeated itself again and again, and among the names being called, Heiduo's was unmistakably included.

Heiduo glanced at Serea and found that her face had suddenly turned exceptionally ugly. Just as he was about to say something to her, someone appeared at the entrance to the training grounds.

"Those whose names were called, hurry up!"

It was a stern-looking young man, shouting loudly.

"...I'm leaving first!"

In the end, Heiduo did not ask his question. Leaving only those words behind, he recalled Ekans and hurried away.

Serea and the other two remained where they were, each wearing a different expression.

Assembly hall.

Heiduo stood amid the sparse crowd and looked up at a raised platform.

On the platform, Squad Captain Lan stood before a microphone with a grave expression.

"Quiet!"

Lan shouted, and the piercing sound from the microphone filled the ears of the noisy crowd.

The previously clamorous assembly hall suddenly fell silent.

Everyone stared intently at Squad Captain Lan standing above them.

With a slightly strange expression, Lan said, "Everyone! I have some very bad news to inform you of!"

Heiduo's heart sank. He could hear the helplessness in Lan's tone.

But Lan gave him no time to think calmly before loudly announcing, "This morning, our base was discovered by the Johto Regional Police District!

"At the same time, they are gathering a large number of officers and heading here!

"So, in half an hour, we will withdraw from Johto as a whole and return to Kanto!"

What the hell!

It felt as though a heavy hammer had struck Heiduo's heart.

What did it mean to be caught completely off guard? This was what it meant!

He had only gained 20,000 trade points yesterday. The good days were supposed to begin tomorrow, so why had this suddenly happened?

Unlike steadily escalating novels, reality would never wait until you were fully prepared before throwing an accident at you.

It would not give you a chance to prepare.

"Everyone present here is an official member whom Team Rocket has confirmed through strict screening! Those who were not summoned here are rejects we have abandoned! Problematic people!"

Lan looked over the faces in the crowd, each bearing a different expression, and coldly said, "For the next half hour, I will give you time to pack your belongings. In half an hour, gather at the East Gate! During this time, I hope you keep your mouths shut, cover your ears, listen to nothing, and say nothing! Do you understand?"

Serea really did have a problem!

Heiduo was shocked. He had never expected the thing he had just suspected to be confirmed in less than ten minutes.

Who exactly was she?

Right! Shuangye and Ori had not been called either!

...Damn!

Goosebumps rose all over Heiduo's body. Had he just been chatting and laughing with three International Police officers?

Women were way too good at acting!

No, this was not the time to think about that!

Heiduo forced himself to calm down. Compared to worrying about Serea and the others' identities, escaping was now the top priority.

If the Pokémon League was competent, the coming escape definitely would not go smoothly. With so many people here, some of them would surely have to stay behind to cover the retreat.

Heiduo looked up at Lan, only to discover that he had already disappeared.

That meant he now had two paths. He could stay in the base and wait for death, gambling that the Pokémon League would not punish those who had failed the selection.

But what about the trade points he had gained yesterday?

On one side were the trade points. On the other was a life that might end in prison.

And after going to prison, he would definitely be separated from Ekans!

Heiduo silently returned to his dormitory. He did not have much luggage, mostly books.

He turned on his computer and looked at the more than 18,000 points in his personal account, his expression conflicted.

In truth, he had many paths he could take.

First: remain at Team Rocket's Special Training Camp, gamble that Squad Captain Lan would not destroy this place, wait for the Pokémon League to arrive, and gamble that they would not severely punish those who had been eliminated.

Second: choose to trust Serea, turn himself in voluntarily, and strive for lenient treatment.

Third: flee Johto with Squad Captain Lan and gamble on safely returning to Kanto.

Fourth: follow Squad Captain Lan, then escape midway and gamble that the Pokémon League would not catch him.

But no matter what, he had to spend all 18,000-plus trade points, because his chance of successfully returning to Kanto and continuing to grow within Team Rocket was only one in four.

And the only way to spend all 18,000 points within half an hour was to purchase Pokémon through the Pokémon trade interface, then retrieve the purchased Pokémon through the Poké Ball transfer device.

Whether materials or books, everything else was either digital, required a long wait to be mailed from Kanto, or could be stored through the item storage system but was not valuable enough.

Heiduo checked the time. He had ten minutes left to browse and shop, with the final ten minutes reserved for making his choice.

"Commissioner! We have reliable intelligence that the Johto Regional Police District is about to move against this place!"

In a dim room, Ori spoke to Serea with a panicked expression.

Serea still wore that indifferent expression and calmly said, "Don't panic! Since it has already happened, we might as well coordinate with them from inside and outside and wipe them out in one fell swoop!"

"...Then I'll contact them immediately!" Ori saluted Serea and quickly ran off.

The room was immediately left with Serea alone.

Seeing no one around, she silently sighed.

According to the original plan, she was meant to infiltrate Team Rocket. After gaining the trust of Team Rocket's expansion division, she would work with the Johto Regional Police District under unified orders from Kanto and uproot Team Rocket in one stroke.

Unfortunately, unexpected events kept occurring.

First was Ori. This criminal police trainee had ignored the rules of the profession and infiltrated Team Rocket on her own as an International Police officer. Not only had she failed to help, she had exposed Serea's existence instead.

Second, the Johto Regional Police District had suddenly acted without advance notice. Though Serea did not know what had happened, there was no doubt that this infiltration mission had most likely failed.

Lastly, even after all her calculations, Serea had never expected Heiduo to join Team Rocket. He was the greatest variable, disrupting every one of her plans.

"Seven minutes left!"

Serea checked her watch. According to the time Lan had stipulated, there were seven minutes remaining, but the actual time should have been only two minutes.

This was not the first time she had encountered Team Rocket's wordplay. The times they gave were never absolutely accurate.

She opened the hidden compartment beneath the floor. Inside were two Poké Balls with black surfaces and white bottoms.