...
Viridian City.
Deep beneath the Viridian Gym, in Team Rocket's secret base.
"Go investigate this person. The more details, the better," Giovanni said softly, stroking his Persian from his chair.
"Understood!" A voice echoed from the shadows in the corner.
"I need complete and accurate information. If necessary, use some of our special contacts in the Alliance, even if it means exposing a few people."
The person in the shadows seemed a bit stunned, probably not expecting Giovanni to be willing to pay such a high price. But they didn't question it, just became a little more serious.
"Yes!"
Giovanni's face slowly broke into a smile only after the shadowy figure seemed to have left.
"So this is the person Sabrina said was very similar to me? There's some truth to that."
...
...
...
Meanwhile, at a particular restaurant in the black market.
Black market restaurants aren't exactly pleasant places. That's because some of the dishes and ingredients they use are mostly Pokémon!
For example, the super expensive "Charcoal-Grilled Scallion Duck," which is constantly sold out, is one of the shop's specialties (made from Farfetch'd). And you'll find things like "Steamed Slowpoke's Tail," "Fried Magikarp," and so on.
Natsu didn't order any of that. He just got a few vegetarian dishes and waited quietly.
He'd already put Hydreigon away, but based on how long it had just been out, no one would dare say anything even if he hadn't ordered a single dish.
Natsu didn't wait long.
A Psychic wave.
A girl with a playful expression appeared in front of Natsu.
However, the people around couldn't actually see Sabrina's appearance, only a silhouette.
Sabrina sat down, swinging her calves playfully, tilting her head and blinking, as if trying to get to know Natsu again.
"What is it?" Natsu raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing, I just saw someone with a Psychic aura similar to yours."
Natsu couldn't help but chuckle. He immediately pulled two small boxes from his pocket. "You're here for something, right? It's all here."
Seeing Natsu's lack of reaction, Sabrina suddenly looked bored, pursing her lips. Still, she carefully enveloped both boxes in Psychic energy.
"Did you see Boss Giovanni?" Sabrina didn't hesitate, directly mentioning Giovanni's name.
While it wasn't a huge secret among current executives, Giovanni was still the Viridian City Gym Leader, and Team Rocket had even made Viridian City its home base.
It seemed the Alliance and Team Rocket still maintained an unspoken understanding that ordinary people couldn't grasp. Recently, Team Rocket's activities had clearly decreased, and Natsu believed the Alliance wanted to see this kind of calm, even if it was just a moment of peace. And perhaps beneath that calm lake, some unexpected outcomes were brewing.
Natsu shrugged, indifferent about it.
"How was it? Is Boss Giovanni very difficult to deal with?" Sabrina's eyes were filled with admiration, like a little girl chasing a celebrity.
"Yes."
"What kind of 'yes' is that?!" Sabrina pouted, clearly not very satisfied with Natsu's answer.
"He invited me to join Team Rocket and promised me the highest Executive position."
Sabrina's eyes instantly lit up, with a hint of expectation. "So, did you agree?"
"I said I'd think about it."
Hearing this, Sabrina squinted her eyes and stood up on the chair. She looked like she wanted to stand up and punch Natsu, her face red with anger. But she ultimately held back.
"Hmph!"
After just a pout, Sabrina's silhouette vanished from the chair.
Natsu was stunned, looking at the empty chair.
After Sabrina left, Natsu didn't eat anymore. He quickly left the black market, departed Saffron City, and hurried to Vermilion City. If it hadn't been for what Agatha told him, he wouldn't have gone back and forth between two cities in one night.
By the time he returned to Professor Sakuragi's lab in Vermilion City, the sky was already starting to turn orange.
Entering the lab, the letter paper on the ground was still there, With a casual glance, the fragile paper turned into tiny dust under his Psychic wrap.
The content of the letter was simple. It didn't explicitly say it was from Team Rocket, just that there was a good project and asked Natsu if he was interested, also hinting at content not permitted by the Alliance. Natsu, of course, didn't take this letter seriously.
But as he was about to enter his room and head back to sleep, the door next to him suddenly opened.
"Natsu, this early?"
Cynthia, wearing pajamas, rubbed the corner of her eyes, her long golden hair tied back with a cute elastic band, flowing behind her head without a hint of mess.
Cynthia wondered why Natsu wasn't answering her when she suddenly heard a laugh that Natsu couldn't hold back.
Hmmmph—
She looked down at his line of sight. When she saw the cute and funny Clefairy printed in the middle of her black pajamas, her face couldn't help but blush, ignoring Natsu's reaction, she rushed back into her room.
Since she was also staying at the lab – she usually stayed at Professor Rowan's lab, but this time at Professor Sakuragi lab's – she momentarily forgot her habits and unconsciously opened the door.
The result?
Natsu smacked his lips as he watched Cynthia dash back into the room. He never thought the seemingly cool Cynthia also had such a girlish heart.
"What are you laughing at?"
At this moment, Lance, fully dressed, appeared behind Natsu.
"So early?" Natsu was a bit surprised by Lance's appearance.
"I usually wake up at this time when I'm on a mission. Besides, aren't you up too?"
Natsu twitched the corner of his mouth.
Lance was an early riser, but Natsu hadn't slept all night. Luckily, he was a Psychic, so even a sleepless night didn't affect his energy much.
"Good morning, Senior Natsu." Lorelei was also awake.
In fact, she came from outside with a book in her hand. It seemed she'd been out for a while. No wonder Lorelei was the current face of the Silver Academy and a representative of the Academy's future characters. Her innate talent was excellent, coupled with hard work.
"Morning, Lorelei." Natsu also greeted her with a smile.
As Lorelei approached, Lance also wanted to say hello, but Lorelei immediately turned her head away. Lance's raised hand awkwardly dropped.
Creak—
Cynthia's door slowly opened. Cynthia, her blush not entirely faded, also stepped out. Everyone moved towards her and greeted her, and she responded one by one. Seeing the knowing or unintentional smile on Natsu's face, Cynthia shot him a sharp glare.
Lance cupped Natsu's elbow and whispered, "What's wrong with her?"
Natsu rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "How should I know?"
Lance smacked his lips unconsciously, women are truly amazing creatures.
"It's too early for everyone."
The last person to appear at the door was Steven, who was adjusting his tie.
Seeing his full energy, Natsu guessed he'd slept well last night.
Indeed, the newly built Sakuragi Lab had good conditions.
Seeing how everyone was up early, Natsu couldn't help but sigh.
Don't be afraid of geniuses; be afraid of hardworking geniuses.
These people belonged to the group with exceptional innate talent, and they all worked hard. It was no wonder they achieved what they did.
Lance's rich combat experience, Lorelei's solid knowledge base, and Steven's financial capability. While Cynthia wasn't the strongest in terms of experience, knowledge, or financial capability, she was the most well-rounded and wasn't weak in any aspect.
The only reason she didn't stand out was because the people she was being compared to were just too strong.
Now that they was awake, Natsu had given up on the idea of sleeping.
A few of them went to have breakfast together.
Then, they headed to the lab's backyard to prepare breakfast for their respective Pokémon.
However, at this point, Lance suggested that everyone have a battle, which could be considered morning exercise.
For Lance, morning exercise was a great way to get Pokémon excited for a new day.
He rarely returned to Blackthorn City. So, most of the time, he stayed at the Kanto Alliance headquarters. And there was only one person who made him develop this habit:
Bruno.
Only Bruno, also a training fanatic, could get along with a mission fanatic like Lance. Sometimes, Bruno's enthusiasm could even be overwhelming.
Lance's proposal was approved by a few of them.
After all, for them, battling was a common occurrence.
Only Natsu.
Watching them all gang up on him, he couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, especially the meaningful smiles on their faces.
He had every reason to doubt if this group of people had discussed this privately.
He always had a feeling they wanted to mess with him.
Natsu silently sighed, but his answer exceeded some people's expectations.
"Okay."
"Huh?" Lorelei adjusted her glasses and looked at the other three, "Senior Natsu agreed?"
Natsu laughed and didn't explain.
He wasn't some ordinary Trainer who could only look up to a few people at that time.
After the trip with Rayquaza to space, Natsu also wanted to see how far he was from them. In terms of main Pokémon alone, there must be a gap in overall strength.
After all, his Monferno and Latios were only (elite).
Natsu thought he still had a chance to reach top-tier Pokémon.
His reaction exceeded some people's expectations, but since he agreed, it was even better.
"Then it's simpler, a one-on-one cycle?" Lance said.
This meant everyone would have to fight at least four other people. Since Natsu didn't refuse, the next part became easy.
Through a draw, the five people got their numbers.
Natsu drew No. 5, and from No. 1 to No. 4 were Lance, Lorelei, Cynthia, and Steven.
This meant Lance would take turns playing against Lorelei, Cynthia, Steven, and Natsu.
Then Lorelei would play against the trio behind her, and so on.
Natsu, having drawn fifth, would just accept the challenges.
The newly built Sakuragi Lab had a large open space in the backyard. The Lab's Pokémon hadn't moved in yet, giving them enough room for battle.
So, Natsu, Steven, and Cynthia sat under a tree nearby, watching Lance and Lorelei, who stood a short distance away on either side.
When Lance learned that he and Lorelei were fighting first, his face became contorted and lost all his excitement, Lorelei, however, was very excited and looked impatient.
As Natsu, who knew their relationship, the smile on his face couldn't be held back.
In Natsu's words, this move was called shooting oneself in the foot.
Since it was just a private discussion, there was naturally no need for a referee.
After standing still, the two looked at each other and called out their respective Pokémon.
"Aerooo-!!"
With a roar, a brown-grey Pokémon with an ancient aura and giant wings appeared in the air. Every flap of his wings was accompanied by the rising and falling grass on the ground.
Aerodactyl!
"Oh? Lance called out Aerodactyl. I thought he'd call out Gyarados," Steven said with a smile.
Natsu glanced at him, pursed his lips and said, "Water and Flying-type Gyarados, facing Lorelei's Pokémon, would smooth out the Ice-type weakness. But if it were against you and Cynthia, Gyarados's attributes might have an advantage."
"Ah." Steven's expression stiffened. Immediately, a wide smile appeared, seemingly unconcerned.
Natsu continued to shift his gaze to the field. A quasi-Elite level Aerodactyl. Its progress was very fast.
And from Lorelei's side, her movement wasn't as grand as Aerodactyl's.
Mixed with red light, what appeared in front of her was a Cloyster.
While not very active, Cloyster's imposing demeanor was by no means weaker than Aerodactyl's.
Cynthia frowned slightly. "Isn't this Lorelei's previous Cloyster? Newly bred, so fast?"
Natsu raised an eyebrow.
Also quasi-Elite?
It hadn't been long since he told Lorelei about the "Gatling Gun" tactic.
Less than half a year.
Could Cloyster be brought to quasi-Elite level?
Lorelei had high innate talent and full support from the Silver Academy.
But Natsu didn't think Lorelei could grow a Shellder from scratch to quasi-Elite level in such a short time. The only explanation was that when Lorelei started training this Shellder, it wasn't weak.
In fact, that was true. After learning from Natsu, Lorelei searched for a Shellder with good innate talent and suitable Characteristic abilities.
The Silver Academy, knowing Lorelei's intentions, directly opened its entire breeding base to her. Among them, there were many outstanding Shellder. Luckily, Lorelei finally found this one among the Shellder. When it was caught, it already had Gym Leader level power. Shellder's evolution requires a "Water Stone," so even if it reached Gym Leader level power, it was still just a Shellder. But just with the food provided by the Silver Academy and its own efforts, its could reach Gym Leader level. It showed that this Shellder's innate talent was very strong.
Coupled with the fact that this Shellder was bred, there was no such thing as a Wild Pokémon that was hard to meet with a Trainer once its strength reached a certain level.
At least, its breaking-through process was much simpler than a Wild Pokémon's.
So Lorelei followed Natsu's suggestion and used a "Water Stone" to evolve the Shellder after she learned the "Shell Smash" move.
In the end, she got the quasi-Elite level Cloyster she had now.
Of course, it couldn't be denied that this Cloyster and Lorelei hadn't been together for long, and their understanding definitely wasn't as good as Lance and Aerodactyl and this Cloyster was also a bit less powerful.
But no matter what, a quasi-Elite Cloyster was the main reason Lorelei agreed to Lance's proposal today.
And this was what Natsu had always wanted but could never get.
Whether it was Lorelei, or Lance, Steven, Cynthia, even if their current strength might have been almost caught up by Natsu, the legacy they had was far better than Natsu's in terms of cultivating new Pokémon.
The Silver Academy, a famous Academy in the Kanto Region, and even the entire Pokémon world, had its own foundation, let alone Natsu, and he was afraid his mentor Agatha might not be comparable.
Natsu's mouth twitched.
This first battle stage was going to be very interesting.
He also didn't expect Lance's "nightmare" to come so soon.
...
(End of this chapter)