"Okay."
Sabrina decided it was worth spending a little to learn how to take down Team Rocket.
"So… which route do we take?"
With the deal made, her next question was about the path.
"We split up. I'll head toward Cerulean City; you go toward Lavender Town. Both routes meet at Rock Tunnel. Whoever spots Rocket first shares their location."
Grey pulled a folded map from the side table.
It was a big Kanto map, dotted with every little nook and cranny.
Saffron City sat at the center, linked to towns all around.
Their target lay in the northeast. On paper you could take three routes.
Two started from Saffron; another looped wider from Vermilion City.
Realistically, unless you had a flier that was insanely fast, the Vermilion route was a "forget it and go to bed" option.
Given everything, launching from Saffron was the easy pick.
Only problem: with both Gym Leaders leaving Saffron, would Rocket slip in while the cat was away?
"As I thought—the city's guard strength is still way too thin."
Grey's voice sank. He glanced at Bumiao, who was stuffing a steamed bun into her mouth, and slowly exhaled.
"Sigh…"
Bumiao: ??
She was just having breakfast—why the sudden dramatic sigh?!
"Grey, what's that sigh supposed to mean?!"
Bumiao jabbed a finger at his nose, fuming.
Her army-green coat swished as she huffed and clutched her chest.
"Nothing. I'm saying Saffron's defense is just lousy. With me and Sabrina gone for a bit, you're one of the top fighters left in the whole city."
Grey wasn't looking down on Bumiao—
He was equally looking down on Saffron's guard strength.
Counting Officer Jenny, you could tally the actual combat-capable trainers on one hand.
And no, Grey wasn't exaggerating.
He'd scoped Saffron back when he fought in underground rings.
It was a specialized economic metropolis.
Nine-to-fivers everywhere.
They went to work like their souls had been plucked out—no way most trainers here were strong.
"Sabrina, how do your Saffron Gym apprentices stack up? Compared with Bumiao, who's stronger?"
Grey grabbed a bun and downed it in three bites, then asked about her Gym's bench.
His earlier "scouting" didn't include Saffron Gym.
Before he took over, the two places were basically mortal enemies.
So he had zero intel on their internals.
"About the same. If you ignore type advantage, our strongest is… maybe 1.1 Bumiao."
Sabrina did a quick mental tally and gave a precise answer.
One-point-one Bumiao.
So their Pokémon were skating up close to level 40.
Fine for Cerulean. But this was Saffron…
Grey thought it through, then decided to leave the three big guns, Farfetch'd, and Blaziken at the Dojo.
At least, aside from Farfetch'd, those four had real trump cards.
He'd travel with Annihilape, Breloom, Riolu, Kirlia, Articuno, and Poliwhirl.
Six slots—just right for most situations.
Of course, little Riolu didn't use a ball, so it didn't count against the carry limit. A tiny loophole.
"Green, you coming?"
Grey pulled out a Great Ball and was about to head out when he glanced at Green, who was glued to her phone.
"I… I'll pass."
Her voice hitched, like she was tensing up.
"What's wrong?"
It was the first time Green had acted like this, which made Grey worry.
She was a Dojo apprentice—he really hoped nothing was wrong.
"Hoo…"
Green took a few steadying breaths, got her rhythm back, and met his gaze.
From Grey's view, she was pinching the hem of her clothes, hovering on the edge of speaking.
Anyone could see she had something to say.
But she didn't say it.
It started to make Grey anxious.
"Hey—time's tight today. Just spit it out. We've known each other a while; this isn't our first day."
He reached out, gently pinched her cheek. "Talk~"
"Mmff…"
Her delicate cheeks were nearly kneaded into baby fat. Pain squeezed two tears from her eyes, and she mumbled something garbled.
Only after a good pinch did Grey let go.
Green's face was bright red as she shot him a wounded look. "Why are you grabbing my face for no reason? You're awful!"
"Okay, okay—down to business."
Green waved a hand and sorted her words. "I have a friend. He's… tight on cash lately…"
"Oh? Coming to Saffron to do some 'prospecting'? And if he gets caught you want me to bail him out?"
Hearing "a friend," Grey jumped to the obvious conclusion: not the cleanest pair of hands.
"You—!"
Green flushed, too angry to form a retort.
Lies don't hurt—truth is the sharp knife.
She'd run with the wrong crowd; how clean could her hands be?
"I—I want to find him a job. Your Dojo needs apprentices, right? I figured… if it's him, he might click with you."
She finally said it, fingers twisting the fabric harder as she braced for Grey to turn her down.
After all, the first time they'd met, she'd nicked his business card.
Not a great first impression.
And she never understood why he'd invited her to apprentice.
Green didn't rate her own character that highly. Yet Grey still gave her a seat at the table, which stung her with guilt.
So bringing in a new person came with a faint, nagging guilt too.
What if the newbie wasn't clean?
Wouldn't that just waste Grey's goodwill?
The guilt swelled; Green ducked her head lower.
"Got a photo? Let me see his face."
Grey seemed to connect a dot and held out his hand.
"Oh—yeah, here!"
Green hurriedly opened her gallery and pulled up a picture, handing the phone over.
A boy about average build for his age. In the photo, he had silver eyes and a head of medium-short red hair…
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