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Eddie felt genuinely confused upon hearing the system notification.
To be completely honest, although he had been telling the truth about his capabilities and did possess the strength to back up his claims, he had also been showing off somewhat.
As a human being, who didn't enjoy displaying their abilities occasionally?
However, it had simply been typical showing-off behavior. Eddie hadn't deliberately attempted to improve Green's favorability, so why had Green's feelings toward him increased so dramatically?
Could it be similar to what had happened with Misty, where Green had inexplicably imagined something in her mind that wasn't actually there?
Eddie secretly glanced at Green behind him, but found that most of her face was hidden behind the strange telescope device, making it impossible to read her expression.
"Forget it. If I can't understand it, then I won't try to. After all, women's hearts are like needles at the bottom of the ocean - it's nearly impossible for us men to comprehend them," Eddie concluded with this rather blunt male perspective, explaining the situation to himself internally.
While Eddie and Green were leisurely searching for Mew, events were unfolding near Rainbow City's Game Corner.
Team Rocket had just returned to their base, but before they could enter, they were attacked by the trainers who had arrived in Rainbow City ahead of schedule.
"Damn it! Why did Erika's forces return so early! Retreat! Fall back immediately!" the division captain shouted in shock.
Intelligence reports had clearly indicated that Erika wouldn't return until tomorrow, so why had she arrived at dusk instead?
Moreover, it appeared the opposing forces had come prepared. The moment they spotted Team Rocket, they launched their assault without any warning or negotiation.
The division captain naturally had no intention of engaging them in battle. As Eddie had predicted, their mission remained incomplete. Even if their base was destroyed, they needed to fulfill their objectives.
He had just sent a signal to personnel inside the base, and Blaine had responded, informing him that evacuation procedures were already underway, so they didn't need to fight and should retreat quickly.
Well, Blaine had responded to him, though Blaine was the only operative still capable of independent movement at this point.
Of course, Blaine's actions weren't entirely well-intentioned. He wanted to cause maximum losses to Team Rocket, and he also realized he hadn't completely relocated Mewtwo yet, so he had dismissed the captain.
Upon receiving this information, the captain immediately signaled for his team members to withdraw.
Naturally, in such circumstances, whether individual operatives could escape depended entirely on their personal strength and training.
Consequently, after abandoning several weaker Team Rocket members, the division captain successfully retreated with his most capable trainers.
Following pursuit by both Eddie and Rainbow City's trainers, only half of this Team Rocket division remained operational.
"It's acceptable. The remaining half are all elite operatives - more than sufficient for collecting some of Mew's cells," the division captain maintained confidence in completing their mission under these circumstances.
However, his subordinates delivered more devastating news.
"Captain! This is terrible! I just tested the disk with our equipment and discovered it's completely fake!"
"What?! It's counterfeit?! That little girl actually deceived us like this! Damn it!" the captain exploded with rage.
Numerous setbacks throughout the day had pushed his anger beyond controllable limits.
"Captain, don't panic! I secretly placed a small tracking device on the girl as a precautionary measure. We can locate her now," one subordinate reported.
The captain's mood brightened immediately upon hearing this, and he quickly retrieved their detection equipment.
Sure enough, a bright signal was moving continuously from the position where they had previously confronted Green.
"Right, that man should still be with her, but regardless of the circumstances, we must recover that disk today. Otherwise, we'll definitely face severe consequences when we return to headquarters. Everyone, pursue them immediately!" the division captain decided after considering their options for several moments.
He chose to hunt down Green, even knowing that Eddie remained by her side.
After all, failing to complete such a crucial mission would result in punishment from headquarters that wouldn't be much more pleasant than facing Eddie directly.
Therefore, Team Rocket forces that had just escaped from Eddie were now returning to the original area, actively seeking Green and Eddie using their tracking equipment.
However, not everyone possessed the courage to return and confront Eddie again.
"Hey, James, let's not follow them back. I have a really bad feeling about this," Jessie whispered to James as they lingered at the rear of the group.
She had no desire to face Eddie again after their previous encounter.
"What a coincidence - I have the same bad feeling. Why don't we..." James replied, his expression clearly troubled as he remembered being blasted away by Eddie earlier.
"Why don't we go search for that Squirtle right now! I'll lead the way - let's leave quickly!" Meowth interrupted James mid-sentence, immediately departing from the Team Rocket formation toward a different direction.
Obviously sharing Jessie and James's sentiments, Meowth had no intention of encountering Eddie again. The experience of being launched through the air had been thoroughly unpleasant.
"Wait for me! Let's go quickly and quietly..." Jessie called out softly.
"That's right, let's leave without making any noise..." James agreed.
Seeing Meowth's actions, Jessie and James followed suit, directly abandoning their team and embarking on their quest to find Squirtle.
As for whatever might happen to the remaining Team Rocket forces, they genuinely didn't care. With their limited strength, their presence or absence wouldn't significantly impact any battle outcomes anyway.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Rainbow City, Erika was receiving updated reports from her advance forces.
"Ms. Erika, our vanguard has successfully captured the Game Corner. There was indeed a secret Team Rocket base in the basement, but according to our insider's report, it had already been neutralized by Mr. Morning Sun," a female trainer reported the current situation.
"Mr. Morning Sun should be engaging Team Rocket at the coordinates he provided. We need to move faster," Erika responded with a serious and somewhat anxious expression, commanding her main force to rush toward Eddie's reported location as quickly as possible.
Although she was surprised that Eddie had managed to neutralize the Game Corner's basement single-handedly, she didn't believe Eddie could handle all of Team Rocket's presence in Rainbow City alone, so she hurried to provide support.
Of course, even if Erika reached that location immediately, it would prove futile, since Eddie had already resolved the situation there and the battle had moved to an entirely different area.
Even if Erika arrived at the original coordinates now, she could only help Eddie collect the prisoners and retrieve the Team Rocket operatives he had frozen in place.
There was no helping this communication gap. It wasn't that Erika didn't want to assist Eddie, but the two sides hadn't maintained contact, and the information asymmetry had created this unfortunate situation.
However, Eddie hadn't left himself completely without backup plans.
He had created trail markers along their route just in case such circumstances arose.
As long as Erika reached the original location, she would be able to spot the markers Eddie had left and follow the path to wherever Eddie currently was.