Southeast Asia's tropical climate supported dense vegetation, especially in its rainforests, where insects ran rampant and people rarely ventured. Anyone who came here had to beware not only of dangerous miasma and swarms of insects, but also attacks from wild Pokémon. In the small countries of these remote regions, rainforests were generally off-limits.
Yet beneath a rainforest in one small Southeast Asian country lay a substantial underground base.
Anyone entering the underground base would find an extraordinary array of equipment and facilities. It even had everyday amenities such as restrooms and a cafeteria, along with its own farms, ranches, and artificial lighting to maintain its food supply.
As long as its energy supply held out, an underground base of this size could support the daily needs of two or three hundred people.
Throughout this vast underground base, however, one familiar symbol was everywhere. A large red capital R occupied every corner, and every member of the base's staff wore a uniform bearing that same red R.
This was indeed one of Team Rocket's main bases in Southeast Asia. Its routine duties consisted primarily of collecting biological data and Pokémon from the region, conducting research, and training personnel. It was a large underground facility that combined experimentation with training. Compared with Team Rocket's other bases on Earth, however, its functions were decidedly peripheral despite its size, so both staffing levels and personnel quality were relatively low, and work was generally relaxed.
Most Team Rocket members assigned here were either newcomers or older members coasting toward retirement. Naturally, a large base staffed by people like these had a much more laid-back atmosphere than other bases. Today, however, "laid-back" was the last phrase anyone would use to describe it.
Everyone inside the large base wore a grave expression, their nerves taut, as though