Deep within Team Rocket Headquarters, a palatial banquet hall rarely used in ordinary times now blazed with light and rang with voices.
Overhead, a massive crystal chandelier hung like a frozen sun, pouring brilliant light onto the mirror-polished obsidian floor. Enormous tapestries depicting Legendary Pokémon adorned the walls, each worth a fortune, displaying this underground kingdom's immense wealth and ambition. The air carried an extravagant blend of fine red wine, roasted meat, and expensive perfume.
The scale of this victory banquet surpassed every one before it.
News that Ye Li had directly broken the elite fleet personally led by Lorelei, an Elite Four member of the Pokémon League, with the near-miraculous result of "zero casualties" struck the organization like a boulder plunging into a deep pool, raising towering waves. This was not merely a victory, but a display of the art of war that overturned countless people's understanding. It transformed the name "Ye Li" from that of a controversial new staff officer into something symbolic.
"Strategist," "mastermind," "a strategist who could decide battles a thousand miles away"... Praise once reserved for legends or Giovanni himself was now lavished on this young man, passing repeatedly through the executives' whispered conversations, every syllable carrying awe and admiration.
Even Apollo, the hard-line chief of operations who had always regarded Ye Li with scrutiny, fell into a long silence after receiving the full report on the battle at Thread of Sky Fjord. He put himself in Ye Li's position and ran through the battle dozens of times. Every attempt led to the same conclusion-even if he committed every last reserve of strength and gave it his all, the best possible outcome would have been a narrow victory at a terrible cost. Mutual destruction with Lorelei's fleet was an extremely likely possibility.
Yet Ye Li