With Vicious eliminated, it seemed that the members of Team Rocket who had been deployed would soon return.
However, everything here had already been settled.
According to Lucius's perception, everyone within the Saffron City branch had now been fully infected, and all failed mutation experiments had been completely eradicated.
"Proton, you know exactly what to say when Giovanni returns, don't you?" Lucius and Lorelei had released their psychic control over everyone.
The highest-ranking officer left in charge—Proton—had now joined Hive.
Proton nodded, his expression complex. As a high-ranking executive of Team Rocket, he was familiar with criminal organizations and underground syndicates worldwide, but he had never encountered anything like Hive before.
This terrifying top-down, inside-out control didn't resemble a terrorist organization—it felt more like a cult.
No matter how deep one was in Team Rocket, there was always a way out. But with Hive, there was no exit.
Now, he also understood why Celadon City and Vermilion City had suddenly suffered power outages and lost communication. Clearly, Hive had taken them as well.
Team Rocket had over sixty bases throughout Kanto, including two S-Class bases and seven A-Class bases. Hive had now taken control of the Saffron City S-Class base and the A-Class bases in Celadon City, the Vicious Division, and Vermilion City. They had already seized nearly half of Team Rocket's strongholds—including nearly all of its top researchers.
"…Does this mean the next step is getting Boss Giovanni to join Hive?" Proton asked.
"If possible, why not?" Lucius replied with a smile.
"…Giovanni, the Boss?" Lorelei was visibly shocked upon hearing Proton's words.
"You weren't aware, Elite Four Lorelei? The supreme leader of Team Rocket is none other than the Gym Leader of Viridian City and the President of Silph Co.—Giovanni."
"…Giovanni…" Lorelei murmured his name, still finding it hard to believe.
The leader of Team Rocket was actually a League-sanctioned Gym Leader?
Even though the revelation that Volkner was the leader of Hive had already been a shock, the fact that Giovanni was the head of Team Rocket was an even bigger blow.
After all, Hive was a relatively new organization, but Team Rocket had dominated Kanto and Johto for years, causing endless trouble for the Pokémon League.
For such a massive criminal syndicate… their leader had been right under the League's nose this entire time? Or rather, he was part of the League itself?
For a brief moment, the thought seemed absurd to Lorelei.
Regardless of what she thought, Lucius had no objection to Giovanni joining Hive.
Indeed, Giovanni was a man of deep calculation and boundless ambition, but he was also a strong-willed and highly capable leader. The fact that he could juggle two identities while simultaneously growing both Team Rocket and Silph Co. to their current heights was proof of his competence.
If such a man joined Hive, it would gain an incredibly powerful administrator.
After giving Proton his instructions, Lucius and Lorelei teleported away from the Saffron City branch.
Following the destruction of the Vicious Division, Giovanni did not return to Saffron City. Instead, he went straight back to Viridian City, while Pierce led his Special Operations Unit back to their base.
Lorelei's original goal for the day had been to investigate the wild Pokémon outbreak in the northern forests of Cerulean City. The rangers who had joined Hive under her protection had already completed their reports.
The leader-class wild Pokémon had also been taken away by Sham and Dolores, leaving only a handful of strong Pokémon such as Skarmory and Aerodactyl behind in the forest.
"Elite Four Lorelei, the preliminary matches for the Elite Four selection are in ten days. I hope you'll give your full support."
Lucius and Lorelei sat in the most luxurious restaurant in Saffron City, enjoying world-class cuisine.
Lorelei nodded. Since Volkner himself had said this, could she really refuse?
As a current member of the Elite Four, her stance would be critical in determining who would claim the new Elite Four positions.
"…What's our next move?" Lorelei asked softly.
Lucius smiled faintly. The fact that she had said "our" meant she had begun to accept her new identity. After all, the moment she helped him raid Team Rocket's bases and spread the virus, they had already been in the same boat.
"My goal is to eradicate every major criminal organization across the world in one fell swoop," Lucius declared.
"…The entire world?" Lorelei lifted her head, her striking eyes shimmering with intrigue.
"That's right." Lucius nodded. "This includes Team Magma, Team Aqua, Team Galactic, Team Plasma, and all the others. We will wipe them all out."
Lorelei took a sip of red wine, falling silent.
If anyone else had made such a grand declaration, she would have simply scoffed at their arrogance.
But since it was Volkner saying it… she actually believed he could pull it off.
In just one day, he had taken down four of Team Rocket's bases without Giovanni even realizing it. Such effortless execution, such overwhelming dominance—even the Pokémon League itself couldn't achieve this.
The Pokémon League, as the world's most powerful governing force, could indeed destroy four Team Rocket bases in a day—if it had the right intelligence.
But doing so would trigger an all-out retaliation. There was no way they could pull it off as cleanly and effortlessly as Lucius had.
...
"Ariana is dead?" Giovanni frowned as he listened to Matori's report.
Matori had just received this intel from Chakk—Chakk claimed that during an underground ruin expedition, they were ambushed by the Syndicate. However, they fought back fiercely, eliminating most of the Syndicate's members. But in the final moments, Ariana was killed by a wild Pokémon, which had been enraged by the Syndicate using some kind of device.
Aside from that, they managed to seize the majority of the ancient Pokémon fossils, a gain that could at least offset some of their losses.
Everyone knew that Chakk, the short and wiry operative, was one of Ariana's most trusted subordinates—he wouldn't lie about something like this.
Just a few days ago, Archer had been intercepted and assassinated at sea. Today, Vicious betrayed them and was killed. And now, Ariana was dead as well…
Losing three high-ranking executives in such a short span of time—even Giovanni was starting to feel the pressure.
"Matori, do you think this is just a coincidence?" Giovanni absentmindedly stroked Persian's head, closing his eyes as he spoke.
"This..." Matori, as Giovanni's trusted secretary, naturally understood what he was getting at. However, based on the information at hand, Archer had fallen to an ambush by elite League operatives. Ariana had died in a ruin raid after being attacked by the Syndicate. Vicious had thought he could control the virus and tried to break away on his own.
There wasn't any clear, direct link between the three incidents.
Just then, a communicator on Giovanni's desk lit up with a blinking signal.
His pupils contracted sharply.
That communicator was exclusively used for his deep-cover agent within the League's Shadow Ops. Unless something truly urgent had happened, it would never be used. But the moment it was activated—it meant something critical.
A storm was brewing.
Giovanni opened the message. There was only a single symbol displayed:
"R"
The moment he saw it, a surge of heat rushed to Giovanni's head, and his heart pounded violently in his chest.
This was the signal from his Shadow Ops informant—"R" stood for Team Rocket.
And according to their prior agreement…
Sending only an "R" meant one thing:
Their cover had been blown.
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