Celadon City.
A bustling metropolis famous for perfume and games.
Matori's work, however, did not go as smoothly as she had imagined.
She ran into considerable trouble at several prime locations she had her eye on.
Several local gangs banded together, using all sorts of means to obstruct her site selection.
One day, the construction site lost power; the next, building materials were held up; the day after that, a bunch of thugs came to harass the workers.
Their methods were underhanded, but they were as irritating as flies and severely slowed the project's progress.
Matori sent people to negotiate, but the other side made their position clear: if she wanted to open a business here, that was fine.
Pay protection money.
And it was an enormous sum, enough to make anyone wince.
It was not that Matori had never considered using force, but Celadon City was unlike other places. There was a Pokémon League Gym here, and Officer Jenny's patrols were unusually frequent.
If they caused a major disturbance, they could easily bring trouble down on themselves and disrupt Giovanni's entire plan.
Left with no other choice, she reported the situation and asked Giovanni for instructions.
"A bunch of sewer rats dare to stand in Team Rocket's way."
After hearing the report, a cold glint flashed in Giovanni's eyes.
But he did not immediately order Matori to act.
He remembered that voice.
He wanted to know what better insight the "strategist" would have when faced with this situation.
And so, another emergency meeting was held in Conference Room Three.
Just like last time, the attendees were still only those same few administrative staff members.
When Ye Li received another meeting notice, he inwardly fell apart.
Again? Can't a guy get a break?
What's it this time? Did they fail to snatch Dratini, and now they're holding a public denunciation meeting?
He entered the conference room on tenterhooks and found the atmosphere even grimmer than last time.
Giovanni briefly explained the trouble in Celadon City, then posed a question.
"What ideas do you have for dealing with these local gangs?"
After speaking, his gaze settled on Ye Li, seemingly by chance.
Ye Li's heart lurched, and he hurriedly activated his backup plan.
What's for dinner?
Braised beef noodles, I guess. I had mushroom chicken yesterday. I'm getting a little tired of it.
Should I add an egg to the noodles? Or a ham sausage?
Forget it. Only kids have to choose. I'll have both!
Ye Li kept his head down, his mind consumed by a fierce internal debate over a bowl of instant noodles, trying hard not to think about anything related to the meeting.
He believed that as long as he thought only about these trivial matters, absolutely nothing would go wrong.
Giovanni sat at the head of the table, waiting quietly.
One second, two seconds, ten seconds...
The voice he was waiting for still did not come.
Giovanni's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
A trace of disappointment crossed his mind.
Could I really have guessed wrong last time? Was that Ye Li merely a coincidence?
No.
Giovanni quickly rejected that thought.
The fact that the other man had not spoken proved precisely that he had noticed something.
He was deliberately hiding himself.
That reaction only deepened Giovanni's suspicions.
This "strategist" was even more alert and cunning than he had imagined.
Since you won't speak of your own accord, I'll force you to.
Giovanni sneered inwardly and decided to put forward a plan himself first.
He cleared his throat and said in a low voice, "We can't wipe out these local gangs in one sweep. That would only unite them against a common enemy and attract the Pokémon League's attention."
"The best approach is to divide them."
"We can secretly approach one of the factions and promise them substantial benefits, getting them to work with us to suppress the others."
"Win over one side and suppress the other. Once we've cleared out all the other factions, that 'ally' we won over will be powerless on their own. Whether we kill them or let them live will be entirely up to us, won't it?"
Giovanni's plan was undeniably shrewd.
These tactics of forging alliances and playing factions against one another were the distillation of his many years navigating the underworld.
He believed this plan would be enough to resolve the trouble in Celadon City.
At the same time, he was using it to probe the hidden "strategist."
He wanted to see how the other man would assess his plan.
The other administrative staff in the conference room were already listening with shining eyes, their faces practically proclaiming, "Brilliant, boss!"
Only Ye Li still kept his head down after hearing Giovanni's plan, yet inwardly, he could not help beginning to analyze it.
Hmm... This plan's decent. He's got some brains, far better than that musclebound brute Apollo.
He knows to divide and undermine them. That's progress.
But... it's still not ruthless enough.
Ye Li's thoughts habitually began to wander.
Winning over one side to suppress the other is still dirty work, at the end of the day. It's easy to leave loose ends. If that 'ally' turns around and bites us, that'll be a real headache too.
If we're going to do it, we should do it more cleanly.
We need to make them bite each other. Let the dogs tear into one another and end up with mouths full of fur.
An even more sinister idea surfaced in his mind.
Before you continue