Deep within the icebound caverns of the Seafoam Islands, Lorelei was directing troops in their search for Articuno's "token" when a miniature Communicator disguised as an ornament on her wrist suddenly gave an extremely faint vibration that only she could detect.
Her pupils contracted sharply. She immediately found an excuse to retreat alone to a secluded corner. When she heard Ye Li's cold words, laden with deadly temptation, through the Communicator, a stark, violent shift appeared on her perpetually icy face for the first time.
The Pokémon League Bioweapon Research Center.
The Pokémon League's darkest, most shameful secret. A forbidden place that even she, a member of the Elite Four, had only glimpsed the tip of in the most classified files. She knew that Ye Li was staking himself in a high-stakes gamble with her. He was betting that she, too, was filled with curiosity about the darkness within the Pokémon League and... ambition.
Lorelei did not hesitate.
Almost the very next second after hearing those words, she used her supreme command authority as a member of the Elite Four to issue an order to the Pokémon League's command system on distant Cinnabar Island-an order that anyone would have considered contradictory, even utterly absurd.
"All troops surrounding the harbor, cease fire immediately! I repeat, cease fire immediately and stand by!"
"The reason... the target may be carrying a high-powered self-destruct device. If detonated, it will deal a devastating blow to the entire harbor. Until bomb disposal specialists arrive, no one is to act rashly!"
The order struck like a bolt from the blue, leaving both the official commanding the scene, who was about to order an all-out assault, and Champion Lance, personally overseeing operations from another distant hilltop, utterly bewildered and furious.
*A self-destruct device? Who would believe such a