"Hey, it's me, Courtney. Don't talk. Just listen."
"That video of yours hit way too hard!"
Courtney's deliberately lowered voice came through Rotom's receiver.
"Morale's all over the place right now. A lot of the rank and file, especially the ones who got talked into joining just to make a living, were scared out of their minds by the terrifying scenes of those two gods fighting in your video. They're demanding to quit!"
"A few admins brought in their loyal followers to forcibly suppress them. Things nearly spiraled out of control. To stabilize the situation, that old fox Maxie decided to move the operation forward!"
Courtney lowered her voice even further.
"They're making their move on the Wallace Cup's opening day. I still don't know all the details of their objective, but it's definitely connected to awakening Groudon. We're running out of time!"
Before Courtney had finished, another faint, distant voice sounded on her end.
"Team Magma Executive Courtney, the boss wants to see you."
The call abruptly disconnected.
Xia Chi fell silent for a moment, deep in thought.
The good news was that the video had indeed convinced quite a few of Team Magma's rank-and-file members to back out.
Presumably, Team Aqua would be seeing something similar.
That was perfectly normal. After all, as the old saying went-
Why risk your life for that little money?
But the bad news was that this powerful medicine had equally powerful side effects.
It had actually driven Maxie into a desperate corner, forcing him to move the operation up to the day after tomorrow-the Wallace Cup's opening day, when all eyes would be on it!
So how would Team Aqua react?
Xia Chi's brow furrowed.
The disadvantage of having no inside informant there was painfully obvious now.
He remembered that, in Pokémon