Team Rocket’s Second-in-Command!

When Ralts woke up from unconsciousness, it was already evening.

Everything seemed as if nothing had happened at all.

Sabrina was preparing dinner, while Luo Yuan was feeding his Pokémon.

"Ralts?"

Ralts looked confused.

Could it all have been an illusion?

But the emotions it had felt… they had been so vivid.

Ralts couldn't make sense of it…

But soon, it stopped thinking about it altogether, as Luo Yuan handed over a specially prepared dish.

"Ralts!"

With food right in front of it, Ralts quickly forgot all about everything else.

From a distance, Sabrina, who had been watching them quietly, breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that Ralts wasn't dwelling on what happened, she felt a little better.

After all, Ralts was still a child, and she had almost led it astray.

With that thought, she glared at Luo Yuan.

Luo Yuan just smiled and looked back at her without a hint of remorse.

---

After staying in Saffron City for three days, Luo Yuan finally said his goodbyes to Sabrina and set off for Viridian City.

Returning to Viridian City this time felt entirely different from the last.

As a city surrounded by the Viridian Forest, the first time he had come here, all he'd noticed was the fresh air. But now, as he returned, he felt a sense of warmth and kinship that seemed to come from deep within.

"Is it because of the power of Viridian?"

Viridian's power—a rare gift born once every ten years from within the Viridian Forest—was said to be intrinsically connected to the forest itself.

Enjoying this feeling, Luo Yuan entered the Viridian Gym through the front door for the first time.

As he'd heard, the Viridian Gym was entirely operated by Team Rocket. From the Gym Leader Giovanni down to the staff and even the janitors, they were all members of Team Rocket.

For years, the organization had managed to operate a fully staffed gym in the city closest to the Indigo Plateau without the League ever catching on.

This was the power of Giovanni, the power of Team Rocket!

"Hello, I'm a new Trainer here to challenge the gym," Luo Yuan announced.

These low-level Rocket members didn't recognize him, so he went through the formalities as a rookie Trainer and eventually made his way to Giovanni.

"Hello, Giovanni. I'm here to challenge the gym." Luo Yuan smiled at Giovanni as he spoke.

Giovanni just stared in silence.

Of course, since he'd been the one to assign Luo Yuan as an undercover agent within the League, Giovanni knew the fewer people aware of Luo Yuan's true identity, the better.

He waved his hand to dismiss the others and ordered the gym to be temporarily closed.

Only then did Luo Yuan drop the facade and return to being the high-ranking Rocket Executive that Giovanni was familiar with.

"How did the Silph operation turn out?" Giovanni asked.

Previously, Matori had only reported that the operation was successful but hadn't given any details, hence Giovanni's question.

"I ran into Lance at Silph Co.," Luo Yuan replied, capturing Giovanni's full attention with his first sentence.

"Oh?"

Giovanni raised an eyebrow. "What was Lance doing there?"

The Elite Four's activities were generally confidential, so without an extensive team dedicated to tracking him, Giovanni normally wouldn't be aware of Lance's movements.

"Because of the new gym under construction in Dark City, Silph Co. set up a new Poké Ball factory there, so Lance went to Dark City to push forward the gym's construction."

Hearing this, Giovanni nodded.

Even from his island base, he kept an eye on significant developments in Kanto.

Silph's new Poké Ball factory was one of them, and he knew Luo Yuan had had a hand in their choice of Dark City as the location.

Luo Yuan continued, "Lance even invited me to become a League Investigator, but I declined."

Surprisingly, Giovanni didn't seem the least bit shocked.

He knew his subordinates well.

He also knew the League was short-staffed, and even though Luo Yuan hadn't used his full team, his public-facing strength wasn't something to be taken lightly. It would've been more surprising if Lance hadn't extended the invitation.

As for Luo Yuan's refusal… that was perfectly fine.

Team Rocket already had more than one undercover agent within the League's Investigator division. If Giovanni had only needed an Investigator, he wouldn't have gone to the trouble of sending Luo Yuan.

What he needed was for Luo Yuan to infiltrate even higher ranks within the League.

The path of Investigator would have been slow, requiring significant time to climb to the upper echelons.

The Indigo League Tournament, however, offered a shortcut. Winning the championship there would start him off at a much higher level than a mere Investigator.

In a way, the Indigo League was not unlike the entrance exams Luo Yuan had faced in his past life—a fair platform offering every Trainer a chance to rise in status.

"If you need a badge, I can give you the Earth Badge," Giovanni offered, willing to fully support Luo Yuan. He reached out to hand him the badge.

But Luo Yuan stopped him.

"Rather than simply receiving a badge, I'd like to test my strength," Luo Yuan said.

His gaze was filled with fighting spirit as he looked at Giovanni.

He'd been meaning to challenge Giovanni for a while now.

Besides earning a system milestone by challenging the Viridian Gym, he wanted to gauge his progress by battling Giovanni himself.

Though Team Rocket didn't choose its leader based on strength, many members were drawn to Giovanni's vision, his ambition… and his sheer presence.

Within Team Rocket, Giovanni was undeniably the strongest.

The title "Giovanni of the Earth" was no exaggeration.

In Kanto, no one could claim to surpass Giovanni's mastery over Ground-type Pokémon.

And then, of course, there was his Beedrill, whose insane strength and apparent genetic mutation made it a terror in battle.

Giovanni's control over Team Rocket was absolute.

Previously, Luo Yuan hadn't challenged Giovanni because his only Pokémon had been Dragapult, leaving him at a disadvantage. But now, with Deoxys at his side, he finally had the confidence to take him on.

Giovanni blinked in surprise before a slight smirk appeared on his face. "Oh… I see."

To be honest, he was curious about Luo Yuan's current strength, too.

Since Luo Yuan's return from Hoenn, he'd grown stronger with each passing day, even capturing Deoxys.

Giovanni was eager to test his newly created Mewtwo against Luo Yuan's Deoxys to see which was stronger.

With that thought in mind…

He picked up the intercom and instructed his staff to hang a "Closed for the Day" sign on the gym door. He then summoned Matori from the underground base to act as referee.

"Since this is an official gym challenge, we'll follow standard gym rules."

"A three-on-three battle."

"Once all of one side's Pokémon are defeated, the other side will be declared the winner. Agreed?"

"Agreed!" Luo Yuan nodded, gripping his Poké Ball.

The battle was about to begin!

---

T/N: stellaris HSR got bonked again :((, off to the hub the scribble one (will be reuploaded there this week will put in end of chapter when it has been)

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(who let this old man here?)