"Cynthia?"
Hearing Matori say the name, Luo Yuan raised his eyebrows slightly.
He hadn't expected that Unova would call in Cynthia for support.
It wasn't that it was impossible — it was just strange.
After all, her own home region, Sinnoh, was already under Team Rocket's control.
And yet she still had the time and energy to go help out Unova?
It was like watching someone's house get torn down while they still insisted on running off to help a teammate grab the blue buff.
Absolutely absurd.
"Is something happening with our Sinnoh branch?" Luo Yuan asked.
Could it be that Sird was buckling under pressure from the Sinnoh League?
He didn't think so.
The deterrent power from the Battle of Mt. Coronet shouldn't have faded so quickly.
Unless the Sinnoh League had somehow found a way to counter the Tech Hunters, they wouldn't dare move against Team Rocket's Sinnoh branch.
But Matori shook her head. "Everything's normal. Under Sird's leadership, we've fully absorbed the remnants of Team Galactic. The merger is complete."
"Then it's even stranger..."
Luo Yuan fell into thought.
Given the lack of intel, he could only conclude that maybe Caitlin had been the one to invite Cynthia to Unova.
After all, the two were old friends and had always been close.
In an emergency, it wasn't unthinkable for Caitlin to call Cynthia for help.
Of course, this was just speculation.
The truth would need more intelligence to confirm.
Shaking his head to clear those thoughts, Luo Yuan refocused on the matter at hand.
"In any case, I think we should continue reinforcing our presence in Unova."
"We'll focus on infiltrating the League first. If we can't get into Team Plasma right away, we'll monitor them from the outside. Gather as much intel as we can, and once the timing is right —
we'll make our official move."
Because Giovanni had never anticipated Team Rocket's expansion happening so quickly,
their forces in Unova were still very thin.
There was no way they could infiltrate Team Plasma in the short term, so Luo Yuan had no choice but to adjust the plan.
Still, it wasn't a big deal.
Compared to the vast power Team Rocket now held, a lone Team Plasma occupying a corner of Unova was hardly a threat.
Once Team Rocket finished digesting Sinnoh and Galar, they could bring overwhelming force to bear anytime they pleased.
The only thing to watch out for was a possible counterattack from the League itself.
Matori diligently recorded all of Luo Yuan's instructions.
Whenever she was handling official business, she was all seriousness — carefully jotting every detail into the notes section of her planner.
"By the way, one more thing," Luo Yuan suddenly said as he noticed her finishing up.
"Hm?"
Pausing just before she capped her pen, Matori looked up at him.
Luo Yuan gave a mischievous smile.
Leaning in close to her ear, he whispered, "Come to Saffron City tonight. I've got a surprise for you."
And before Matori could react, he deliberately blew a small breath by her ear —
then immediately used [Teleport] to vanish from the room.
Matori shivered involuntarily, her face flushing scarlet from her neck to the tips of her ears.
It took her quite a while to come back to herself.
Grinding her teeth as she stared at the now-empty office, she felt a flicker of irritation — but also, somewhere deep inside, a strange sense of anticipation.
Leaving the Team Rocket base, Luo Yuan didn't head straight back to Saffron City.
Although he still needed to meet with President Silph to discuss the Silph Company's future expansion into the Galar region, that was part of a long-term plan — there was no rush.
---
Pallet Town — Oak's Laboratory
When Luo Yuan knocked on the door of the lab, he immediately saw Ash, with his backpack slung over his shoulders, saying goodbye to Professor Oak, with Pikachu perched on his shoulder.
Nearby, Gary Oak stood with his arms crossed, clearly showing he had no intention of associating with Ash.
As Luo Yuan approached, everyone's faces lit up with surprise.
"Luo Yuan?!"
"You're back, Luo Yuan?!"
"Pika-pi!"
Luo Yuan reached out and ruffled Pikachu's electric sacs a few times.
Just before Pikachu could start sparking in protest, he withdrew his hand — and, to make peace, handed over a box of Pokéblocks as compensation.
Then he glanced at Ash and Gary, noticing their travel-ready outfits, and asked,
"What's going on here?"
"Oh, this?"
At Luo Yuan's question, Gary flipped his bangs with a flourish.
"We're heading to Hoenn!"
"Hoenn?"
"That's right!
This time, I'm going to win the Hoenn League for sure!" Gary said through gritted teeth, clearly still holding a grudge over his previous loss at the Silver Conference.
Ash and Pikachu both nodded vigorously from the side — although from their expressions, it was clear they didn't quite agree with Gary's bold claim about winning.
Seeing the two start to bicker again, Luo Yuan shook his head and turned to Professor Oak.
"Professor, I didn't bring back any special souvenirs from Galar this time, but I did collect a lot of data about the Darkest Day incident..."