Silas stared blankly at the spot where Chuck and Gallade had vanished.
He hadn't heard the dragon's roar from earlier at all.
In fact, aside from Chuck, nobody else had heard it either.
"What…?" Everyone looked confused, unsure what had happened.
"Gallade~"
Having stopped its attack, Gallade quickly returned to Silas's side.
It pointed toward the direction where its senior counterpart had disappeared.
Although the distance was too great to sense the exact situation, Gallade could still track residual psychic fluctuations without much difficulty.
"So it's somewhere in the sky far away?" Silas muttered thoughtfully as he looked toward the clouds.
After thinking for a moment, he immediately threw out a Poké Ball.
"Pidgeot, take me over there. Gallade, use Psychic to protect my body."
With Gallade's psychic protection covering him, Silas wouldn't have to worry about Pidgeot flying so fast that his body couldn't endure the strain.
As for why he didn't simply have Gallade Teleport him there.
On one hand, transporting a human with Teleport was extremely exhausting and unnecessary for Gallade.
On the other hand…
Silas was honestly worried about suddenly falling from the sky.
No matter how much he trusted Gallade, humans weren't born to fly.
"You all stay here and be careful!"
His voice gradually faded into the distance.
"Evacuate the students first just in case. All teachers remain on alert."
The headmaster quickly issued orders.
Although some people felt it was unnecessary, believing that nothing could happen with Chuck around, they still obeyed immediately under the old man's stern gaze.
The headmaster looked toward the direction Silas had flown away, then toward distant Mount Snowfall.
For some reason, unease welled up inside him.
He had a bad feeling that something terrible was about to happen.
"I hope I'm just overthinking things because of old age," he silently prayed.
Meanwhile, thanks to Pidgeot's incredible speed, Silas soon spotted the vanished Chuck and Gallade.
At the same time, another person and Pokémon were floating in front of them.
Red hair, a flowing cape, and a goofy-looking Dragonite.
It was Lance and his ace Pokémon.
"Well, if it isn't Silas." Lance greeted him familiarly.
Dragonite beneath him also waved its claw in a friendly manner.
"Mr. Lance!?" Silas exclaimed in surprise. "Why are you here?"
If he remembered correctly, Chuck had literally just complained that Lance had disappeared for quite a while.
Although Silas knew Lance had probably been busy dealing with Team Rocket, he had no idea about his exact whereabouts.
Then again, if even Silas knew where Lance was during a mission, that probably meant Lance was already in danger.
"Well…" Lance flicked his cape dramatically. "That's a long story."
Chuck interrupted him impatiently.
"Then make the long story short. Why do you always drag things out?"
"I finally managed to shake off those annoying brats. Let me relax a little, alright?" In front of familiar faces, Lance's tone became noticeably more casual.
Chuck frowned.
"What is Team Rocket trying to pull this time?"
The so-called "brats" were the nickname many League operatives used for members of evil organizations.
Mostly because those grunts weren't particularly strong individually, yet their fighting methods were unbelievably irritating.
Lance's expression turned serious.
"No idea."
He said it so confidently that people almost thought they had misheard him.
Chuck remained expressionless, clearly already used to Lance's style. Ignoring the confused Silas beside him, he continued asking:
"Then why come looking for me?"
"Even though we don't know Team Rocket's exact objective," Lance replied with a yawn, "one of their squads is targeting the Articuno on Mount Snowfall.
"And according to my investigation, they're also moving against Zapdos and Moltres elsewhere at the same time.
"Most likely, they're trying to restart that Three Legendary Birds project from earlier this year."
"A bunch of lunatics," Chuck declared bluntly.
The problem was that the League couldn't afford to ignore what those lunatics were planning.
Chuck thought for a moment.
"Wasn't Cynthia also in Johto recently? Why didn't you ask her for help?"
Lance rolled his eyes.
"Who says I didn't? Otherwise, why do you think I'd have time to show up here?"
"There are that many enemies?"
"A lot. The Matori Matrix is there. Proton and Petrel are leading Ken, Ryo, and Harry, three squad commanders.
"And most importantly, Lambda is there too with his own team."
Lance rubbed his temples with a headache.
Silas recognized several of the names Lance mentioned.
After all, their wanted posters and bounties were openly displayed in the League mission hall.
Lambda was undoubtedly one of Team Rocket's high-ranking executives.
Proton and Petrel ranked slightly lower, while the three squad leaders under them were considered Team Rocket's backbone forces.
The only unfamiliar term was "Matori Matrix."
"The Matori Matrix is Team Rocket's elite unit directly under the boss's secretary," Chuck casually explained.
Silas nodded.
So it wasn't a person.
"Are they really that strong?" he asked curiously.
Based on his understanding of Lance and Cynthia, anyone capable of holding those two back had to be extremely powerful.
But from what he had seen previously with the Team Rocket executive codenamed A-Class 007 Cyclops at the Seafoam Islands, that level didn't seem sufficient.
Lance's expression became somewhat strange.
"It's not exactly that they're strong they're just incredibly troublesome opponents."
Chuck took over the explanation.
"The four Rocket Executives, Apollo, Ariana, Lance, and Lambda are ranked from strongest to weakest.
"Even the weakest, Lambda, is still an extremely powerful Elite Four-level Trainer."
That "even" sounded absurdly arrogant.
Maybe to someone at Champion level like Chuck, defeating an Elite Four-level Trainer was merely a matter of time.
But for anyone else, becoming an Elite Four-level Trainer already placed them among the world's top Trainers.
Especially someone like Lambda, who had climbed to the rank of Rocket Executive.
Seeing that Silas still looked confused about how such a Trainer could stall people like Lance and Cynthia, Lance simplified the explanation.
"For example, Lambda's Pokémon are all Weezing and Electrode. His subordinates use pretty much the same setup."
Silas blinked.
Then he understood instantly.
Self-destruct tactics.
Team Rocket members would never follow one-on-one battle rules, much less limits on how many Pokémon they carried.
If Trainers like Lambda were cornered, five or six pseudo-Elite Four or even Elite Four-level Weezing and Electrode detonating simultaneously with Explosion would absolutely be lethal.
Combined with retreat tactics like Smokescreen and similar moves, unless Lance wanted to charge directly into chained base-250-power Explosions using his own body, he'd inevitably be forced back.
Of course, this sort of combat style was usually only used by large-scale criminal organizations, which was why Silas had rarely encountered it before.
The other Team Rocket squads were probably operating similarly.
Stopping Lance and Cynthia outright was unrealistic.
But tying them down long enough to prevent them from interfering?
That was much easier, though extremely costly.
"That's what you get for not training a Psychic-type Pokémon," Chuck mocked from the side.
Lance looked equally helpless.
"And where exactly am I supposed to find a Psychic-type Pokémon with Champion potential?
"A pseudo-Champion one still wouldn't be enough to survive Lambda's chain Explosions, alright?"
Even for someone like him, obtaining a Champion-potential Pokémon wasn't easy—let alone one restricted to the Psychic type.
Then his eyes suddenly shifted toward Gallade floating beside Chuck.
"Speaking of which, why not let your Gallade have a child with a Champion-level female Gardevoir? I'd definitely raise the kid properly."
Chuck rolled his eyes.
"Get in line. There are already two or three people ahead of you."
Lance's eyes instantly lit up.
"You mean you actually found a Champion-level female Gardevoir?"
"Previously, the king of the Azoth Kingdom mentioned something about it," Chuck replied casually. "He wanted to introduce Gallade to someone, the partner was supposedly from Kalos' Champion's side. But honestly, Gallade itself doesn't seem interested."
Hearing that, Gallade floating nearby glanced sideways at its Trainer.
Running around nonstop every day, where would it even find the time to fall in love with another Pokémon?
Did humans really think Pokémon accepted arranged marriages that casually?
At the very least, it should get to know the other side first.
"Then why not use the Damp Ability to stop them?" Silas proposed constructively.
When a Pokémon with Damp is nearby, moves like Self-Destruct, Explosion, Mind Blown, and Misty Explosion fail, and the Aftermath Ability cannot activate either.
Lance sighed helplessly.
"Did you forget Weezing's second Ability?"
Silas slapped his forehead.
His mistake, mainly because very few normal Trainers actually used Pokémon like that.
Weezing's second Ability: Neutralizing Gas.
Effect: suppresses the Abilities of surrounding Pokémon.
Chuck laughed heartily.
"It's fine. Once you deal with Team Rocket more often, you'll get used to it. Those guys come up with endless combat methods. Sometimes raw strength alone still isn't enough to wipe them out completely."
Of course, it wasn't that there was truly no way.
The main issue was that the League, the side representing justice couldn't easily go all out.
For example, if Lance's Dragonite unleashed a full-powered Draco Meteor or Dragon Rush in a populated area, an enormous region could end up with zero survivors.
And that very fact was the problem.
Dark organizations could easily twist the situation into "the League accidentally harmed civilians" or even "massacred innocents."
Especially when battles took place near cities.
People with morals were always restrained by those without them. That was simply reality.
"At the start of the year, Team Rocket's operations all failed, whether at the Seafoam Islands, the abandoned Power Plant near Vermilion, or Cinnabar Volcano. I seriously don't know what those lunatics are thinking."
Lance looked exhausted.
Originally, he had been properly investigating the aftermath of the Gyarados incident, but now Team Rocket was causing trouble again.
It was practically adding extra work onto his shoulders.
Chuck casually crossed his arms while floating in the sky.
"So you came asking for help?"
"Pretty much. I really can't split my attention anymore," Lance admitted helplessly.
The Kanto League had over ten times more registered Elite-level Trainers than Team Rocket.
But most of those Trainers had their own responsibilities and assignments, many even permanently stationed in cities for protection duties.
If the League's top-tier battle power hadn't been overwhelmingly superior, then Team Rocket alone would have been enough to plunge the Kanto League into chaos.
Which was also why, once Giovanni's true identity and strength became fully public, the League absolutely wouldn't sit still.
Listening nearby, Silas suddenly realized something.
No wonder Giovanni remained low-profile even after creating Mewtwo.
His personal strength might be terrifying, but in this world, where the Elite Four weren't villains and Gym Leaders weren't double agents, Team Rocket still wasn't powerful enough to openly oppose the League head-on.
That said…
Team Rocket's activities definitely became far more aggressive after Mewtwo's appearance.
Having a powerful Legendary Pokémon really did provide a sense of security.
Silas frowned slightly.
Speaking of Mewtwo…
Could Team Rocket have developed some new idea involving genetic engineering?
Don't tell me mass-producing the Legendary Birds?
When it came to Pokémon-world technology, Silas had complete faith in how absurd it could become.
"How about letting Silas handle it?" Chuck suddenly suggested. "Alder wanted me to test him anyway, so we can just treat this mission as the trial."
Lance considered it briefly.
"That works. The squad over there probably only has a few Elite-level Trainers at most. Their main reliance should still be those devices they used before. Besides, Silas going there won't easily expose our movements."
He sounded very confident.
Under the combined pressure from himself and Cynthia, the fact that Team Rocket could still spare forces to target Articuno already surprised him.
There was no way the force they sent could be overwhelmingly powerful.
But Silas himself wasn't nearly as confident.
The environment around Snowpoint Mountain was extremely unfavorable for his Pokémon.
His Elite-level Pidgeot's combat strength would drop sharply there, and Blaziken wouldn't be able to fight comfortably either.
Not to mention there was always the possibility the enemy's strength wasn't as simple as Lance claimed.
Unfortunately, from the looks of it, neither man intended to give him any chance to refuse.
Silas sighed internally.
Fine. I'll fight then.
Besides, Articuno should probably help me anyway. Having a Legendary on my side would make things a lot easier.
After discussing things within the thick clouds for a while, Lance departed.
He couldn't expose his whereabouts, not yet.
Meanwhile, Silas and Chuck returned to the Ninja Academy.
"What happened just now, Master Chuck?"
Seeing the two land, the headmaster hurried over anxiously.
Chuck grinned casually.
"Nothing much. Gallade spotted a beautiful female Pokémon and chased after her."
Gallade tilted its head in confusion.
"I see." The headmaster nodded calmly.
The explanation sounded ridiculously fake, but if Chuck said so, then it might as well be true.
Chuck stretched lazily.
"Anyway, let's just count the battle as you passing. Running out in the middle of the night to buy RageCandyBars for you exhausted me. I'm going straight into teaching the students afterward. Alder will contact you later."
"Alright. Then I'll get going first if there's nothing else."
Silas nodded obediently.
The two coordinated seamlessly.
Silently, the headmaster pulled a piece of Never-Melt Ice from his pocket.
"The students and teachers have already been evacuated. Only I'm nearby. This should help a little."
An awkward silence instantly filled the air.
"Piiiidgeot—!"
Watching Pidgeot and Gallade carry Silas soaring into the sky, the headmaster sighed once more.
Please don't let anything happen.
He silently prayed in his heart.
High above the clouds, Silas felt the chilling aura radiating from the Never-Melt Ice in his arms as he looked toward the snow-covered mountain in the north.
"Well~ being a savior once in a while actually feels pretty good."
..
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