Handling and Contact

Obviously.

For the Alliance,

an exposed Team Rocket boss who had surfaced was far preferable to replacing him with an opponent of unknown depth.

In a sense, Tetsuya could understand that choice.

But—

"What about the damage Cerulean City suffered? And all those civilians?"

He looked at Lorelei, his tone rising slightly.

Pewter City's disaster could still be attributed to an accident caused by a natural disaster, but Cerulean City had genuinely been assaulted by Team Rocket.

If the Alliance truly intended to let Giovanni off like this,

quite a few people would probably be dissatisfied.

Him included.

It might sound a little arrogant to say so,

but he was no longer the rookie Trainer with absolutely no say in anything.

Lorelei looked at Tetsuya's faintly angry expression and suddenly smiled. "Come to think of it, you don't seem to trust some of the Alliance High Command very much."

"I suppose."

She continued to herself, "Given your background and experiences, the Alliance's help to you has, at most, stopped at basic education. Everything after that was earned through your own abilities."

Tetsuya frowned. "It's not that I don't trust them—"

Lorelei waved a hand. "Asuka is friends with Hiba, and Hiba and I are colleagues with a good relationship.

By that logic, I'm half a senior to you. There's no need for formalities in a situation like this. I understand what you're thinking.

But there's one thing you may have forgotten.

The current chairman of the Alliance Committee is President Alder."

To put it more plainly,

the old man was a genuine member of the Pro-War Faction.

Ever since he had taken office, Dark Organizations had had it far harder than they had in the previous several decades.

Otherwise, Team Rocket—a group that had not been established for long and