Team Rocket Headquarters, Giovanni's Command Room.
On the enormous ring-shaped wall of screens, dozens of surveillance feeds played intelligence from various channels in real time. Yet the main screen at the very center displayed only a simple vital signs interface. On it, the green signal representing Ye Li flickered violently, frantically several times at the moment of the explosion, like water struck by a boulder. Its light brightened and dimmed before finally going out altogether after a burst of piercing electrical static, turning a cold gray that indicated "signal lost."
All this time, Giovanni had maintained a seated posture as steady as a Roman sculpture, his back straight and his hands folded before him. Yet the moment the signal vanished, his broad shoulders gave a violent, almost imperceptible shudder.
His heart, long since tempered by power and intrigue into the stillness of an ancient well, seemed to be seized by an invisible hand, missing a crucial beat.
Through that last miniature transmitter, hidden inside the collar of Ye Li's combat suit and built with Team Rocket's most advanced technology to resist detection and survive extreme conditions, he had witnessed the entire breathtaking, all-or-nothing gamble from a first-person perspective.
He had seen every detail of Ye Li's plan, from Mean Look's forced targeting to Confuse Ray's diversion. He had seen the shock and fury beneath Lorelei's composed responses, her pride and struggle as an Elite Four member. More than that, he had seen Ye Li's resolve when he took out the Dark Moon Stone, and that final, brilliant explosion capable of destroying everything.
Judging by the outcome, Ye Li's plan had succeeded. In a manner bordering on miraculous, he had forced back a member of the Pokémon League's Elite Four and her entire elite unit.
But he had also pushed himself