The stalemate outside Celadon City finally ended in a way no one had anticipated.
The pressure of public opinion crashed against Pokémon League headquarters like a tsunami, wave after wave. Questions from the public, relentless inquiries from the media, and the overt or veiled concern of other Gym Leaders left the League's senior officials overwhelmed. They could not explain to the public why a member of the Elite Four had led a large force against what another Gym Leader called a "legitimate security company," much less forcibly accuse Erika of "colluding with criminals" without conclusive evidence.
Finally, after the standoff had lasted three days and three nights, Pokémon League headquarters had no choice but to intervene. Following a round of vaguely explained, ambiguously worded "internal coordination," an order reached Lorelei.
The order was simple: withdraw.
As Lorelei led her troops slowly away from the border of Celadon City, a force that had arrived so aggressively and was now leaving in disgrace, she felt an unprecedented sense of humiliation and frustration. Her long-prepared, large-scale crackdown had ended in utter failure before countless media cameras, in an almost absurd fashion. She could even imagine herself becoming a laughingstock within the League for a long time to come.
Like a precisely controlled chemical reaction, this incident completely changed the balance of power in Celadon City.
Under the name of the "Rainbow Game Corner Affiliated Security Company," Team Rocket formally signed a long-term "urban strategic cooperation agreement" with the Celadon Gym. They emerged from the shadows and transformed almost overnight into a largely overt, legitimate force. The Rainbow Game Corner, which had served as the vehicle for all this, was thus completely legitimized, becoming a major taxpayer and model business in Celadon City that no one dared touch lightly.
Giovanni keenly seized this once-in-a-lifetime