Escape

Heiduo sat in his seat, staring intently at the carriage door.

Shuangye had not come aboard. He did not know whether she had found Serea and Ori. If she had, Shuangye would be safe. Serea would most likely not do anything to her. He was only afraid that Shuangye had failed to find them and was still searching.

She was not foolish enough to keep searching even if she could not find them, was she?

Heiduo felt conflicted. He was halfway to safety now, but should he go back and find Shuangye?

From another perspective, Shuangye had half-saved his life.

She had shown Heiduo a clear path.

Heiduo looked down at the time. Fifteen minutes had already passed since the half-hour deadline set by Squad Captain Lan, yet this drilling vehicle had not departed. That meant Squad Captain Lan, or some other important figure, had yet to board.

Did he have enough time to bring Shuangye back?

Would the drilling vehicle leave the moment he got off?

Boom!

Suddenly, a violent roar and a faint tremor reached Heiduo through the ceiling, as if some incredible explosion had occurred above them.

"Fuck!"

Heiduo could no longer sit still and stood up. In the end, he could not overcome the condemnation of his conscience and watch a little girl walk to her death after she had helped him.

Everyone had a conscience; it was merely a matter of how much.

He headed toward the carriage door. The people around him who had been watching him found it strange. Was he afraid of Guiye and planning to get off?

Impossible, right? Going down meant certain death. Guiye was nowhere near as frightening as death!

What was this kid thinking?

"Hm? It's you!"

A tall figure blocked the carriage door.

It was Squad Captain Lan, who had arrived late!

He was leaning against the door with a calm expression, several people following behind him as they silently watched Heiduo.

He said, "You really did not disappoint me. A Pokémon like Ekans is not worthy of you. Oh, right, did you receive the Elekid?"

"...It's with me." Heiduo removed the Poké Ball containing Elekid from his waist.

Logically, he should have returned Elekid to Lan with great backbone, then once again stressed Ekans's strength.

But...

"Raise it well! Among all the Pokémon Eggs laid by my Hitmonchan, this one has the greatest potential! It is also the most valuable! Its market price is around ten thousand!" Squad Captain Lan patted Heiduo's shoulder. Team Rocket members had always treated Pokémon as merchandise. Using the Pokémon they owned to breed high-value Pokémon was entirely ordinary.

Ten thousand!

Heiduo was stunned!

Even the lowest-rated Dratini on the Black Net cost about that much!

Now that Lance, the Elite Four's Dragon-type master, was famous throughout Kanto and Johto, fan demand and Pokémon League-backed breeding had made ordinary low-level Dratini less precious.

Instead, some weaker Pokémon had gradually become rare and expensive because humanity's excessive development of the wilderness had robbed them of their habitats.

Kangaskhan and Marowak were among them.

Twenty or thirty years ago, the plains where they lived had been occupied by humans because of their favorable geography and beautiful scenery, then developed into cities.

That forced them into the forests to compete with other Pokémon for territory, ultimately causing their populations to plummet.

Believe it or not, a Kangaskhan had once been bid up to three hundred thousand, while a Shiny Kangaskhan had been forcibly bought out by some unknown collector for a million!

Heiduo's expression changed. This Elekid was far too valuable.

"Enough! If I tell you to take it, then take it!" Squad Captain Lan said impatiently. "A Pokémon that has not grown up yet has a limit to how expensive it can be!"

That was right. In Team Rocket's trading system, a Pokémon's level and whether it had evolved were extremely important standards for determining its price.

If a level-ten Dratini was worth ten thousand,

then a level-fifty Dratini would be worth one hundred thousand!

A level-fifty Dragonair would be worth two hundred thousand!

A level-fifty Dragonite... sorry, Dragonite evolved at level fifty-five.

In short, strength was also part of a Pokémon's value.

Lan pushed Heiduo aside. The people behind him glanced at Heiduo, some disdainful and others grinning mockingly.

At the very end was a frivolous man with a yellow, upright fox standing beside him.

[Pokémon: Alakazam/Gender: Male/Level: 42]

[Ability: Inner Focus/Type: Psychic/Trainer: Tero]

[Moves: Psybeam lv4/Calm Mind lv4/Light Screen lv3]

[Miracle Eye lv3/Psychic lv4/Teleport lv3/Recover lv2]

A Team Rocket member at squad leader level! And it even had seven moves!

Heiduo glanced at Alakazam. For it to possess seven moves, its mastery of them had to be exceptionally deep!

Tero noticed Heiduo watching his Alakazam and said, "Want it? I'll sell it to you for two hundred thousand!"

Was money not money?

Heiduo shook his head. He was not interested in Pokémon like Abra. They always felt like old men to him, and Alakazam supposedly had an extremely high IQ. It would be awful if his own Pokémon looked down on his intelligence.

Of course, if it were free, he would still take it.

"If you're not buying, don't stare!" Tero snapped at Heiduo irritably, looking exactly like a clerk at a luxury goods store.

Heiduo did not care.

He hurried past Alakazam and ran outside.

Squad Captain Lan had arrived. If he did not hurry, he really would not make it out!

Yet the moment he stepped through the hatch, he collided head-on with someone.

"Ouch!" The newcomer rubbed her nose. She had just slammed headfirst into Heiduo's chest, nearly flattening it.

"Shuangye!" Heiduo happily grabbed the newcomer's shoulders. It was none other than Shuangye, the very person he had been about to search for.

Shuangye covered her nose and looked up at Heiduo in surprise. "Big Brother Heiduo? What's wrong?"

"Did... did you find Serea and Ori?" Heiduo hesitated, but ultimately asked.

At his words, Shuangye shook her head dejectedly. "No. I searched the entire Special Training Camp and even checked the surveillance footage in the monitoring room..."

"Actually... you do not need to worry about them at all." Heiduo considered it carefully and decided to tell Shuangye his guess.

Heiduo said, "They are very likely undercover International Police agents from the Pokémon League, or undercover officers from the Johto police!"

Then Heiduo watched Shuangye's mouth form an O.

"Really?" Shuangye looked completely unconvinced. The two friends she had spent every day with were Pokémon League undercover agents?

Heiduo nodded. He first pulled Shuangye into the drilling vehicle because the hatch was about to close, then said, "I cannot think of any reason someone skilled at taming Pokémon and so outstanding in battle would join Team Rocket!

"And Ori always acted fearful around Serea. In my eyes, that fear was the reverence a subordinate had for a superior!"

Not only that, when Heiduo had watched Serea walk, he had noticed that her steps were extremely neat and rhythmic. Even the way Serea ate was precise and orderly, as if she had undergone exceptionally strict training.

In a Pokémon world where armies had already vanished, aside from the Pokémon League, how many large organizations could cultivate someone like that?

"I..." Shuangye's expression was complicated. Just as she was about to say something, a tremor suddenly came from beneath their feet, accompanied by a roar in their ears.

The drilling vehicle had started?

Heiduo immediately held Shuangye up to keep her from falling, then turned to look at Lan.

Lan was frowning as he quietly questioned a Team Rocket member. The man was drenched in sweat, frantically operating a tablet in his hands.

Then, as the Team Rocket member lowered the tablet in despair, Lan stood up and loudly said something to the people around him.

However, with the endless roaring in his ears and the great distance between them, Heiduo could not hear what Lan was saying at all.

He only knew that Lan, who had been calm the entire time, was now directing the people beside him with a grim expression.

Rumble, rumble, rumble—

Heiduo felt a faint sensation of movement, and his body against the side of the vehicle tilted slightly to the right.

"Quick! Get into your seats! Fasten your seat belts!"

Heiduo pushed Shuangye toward a seat. No matter what was happening outside, fastening a seat belt was definitely safer than not fastening one.

Shuangye nodded, stumbled to a seat, and quickly pulled up the belt and fastened it.

Heiduo sat beside Shuangye and fastened his own seat belt as well.

Something completely unexpected had clearly happened outside. It was highly likely that the Pokémon League had discovered their hidden drilling vehicle.

Then again, if the Pokémon League were truly that incompetent, there was no way it could have maintained its supreme status for so long.

Suddenly, the drilling vehicle jolted violently. Several people who had not fastened their seat belts smashed their heads against the iron ceiling, immediately blacking out and collapsing to the floor.

At the same time, the moving drilling vehicle stopped. The roaring gradually weakened, and the constant tremors vanished entirely.

"Big Brother Heiduo—"

"Shh!" Heiduo stopped Shuangye's questioning. They were finished. The drilling vehicle had been forced to stop!

Did the Pokémon League have to be this capable?

Now he could only hope Squad Captain Lan and the others were capable as well and could successfully lead them out.

He turned toward the compartment where Squad Captain Lan had been, only to discover that those people had vanished at some point.

They ran? That was way too fast, wasn't it?

Several Team Rocket grunts beside Heiduo unfastened their seat belts and released their Pokémon.

At a time like this, only their Pokémon could give them a sense of security.

Bang!

A loud explosion came from the hatch some distance away.

The heavy hatch bulged inward, clearly having been struck from outside by tremendous force.

Heiduo was speechless and silently put on his black baseball cap.

Bang! Crash!

The hatch was blasted away and slammed onto the floor. White light poured in from outside.

"Yo! Good afternoon, you pieces of trash!"

A figure bathed in sunlight appeared at the hatchway.

"Shadow Ball!"

"Solar Beam!"

"Flamethrower!"

The Team Rocket grunts who had released their Pokémon hurriedly commanded them to attack the figure.

Heiduo grabbed Shuangye and quietly headed toward the drilling vehicle's cargo hold.

A drilling vehicle this large had to have an emergency escape route, and there had to be one in the cargo hold!