"Let's go, Gym Leader Giovanni. This is wrapped up."
Grey hoisted Colress onto his shoulder and spoke to Giovanni beside him.
"Yeah. Let's go. Once we hand him over to the police, we can leave the rest to the League."
Giovanni gave a small nod. Then, with Alakazam's help, he and Grey arrived at the Celadon City Police Station.
…
…
Inside the Celadon City Police Station, Officer Jenny wore a grim expression as she issued orders into her communicator.
"All units, listen up. Immediately seal off every route leading to the Game Corner ruins."
"Set up a Level 3 cordon and evacuate all civilians within a 500-meter radius."
"Special Ops Team, assemble in five minutes. Bring bomb-disposal gear."
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
In the lobby, Growlithe paced back and forth restlessly, their police badges on their collars reflecting a cold sheen.
They'd even called in a veteran Arcanine from HQ.
Yep—one of the same kind that Giovanni had beaten so badly last time it ended up hospitalized.
Officer Jenny did one final check of her sidearm. In the glass window, her reflection showed a jawline clenched tight.
Whatever they were about to face, it was likely far beyond the usual.
Ding-dong.
The bell rang.
Officer Jenny paused, then looked toward the entrance.
The automatic doors slid open. Grey walked in with Colress slung over his shoulder, and Giovanni followed behind him.
Officer Jenny: ?
For a moment, Officer Jenny's brain refused to process what she was seeing.
They had just been preparing to head out—so how had Grey already brought Colress back?
Wasn't it supposed to be the vicious Team Plasma Seven Sages this time?
So why was it the dark scientist Colress?!
A dozen images flashed through Officer Jenny's mind, and none of them explained how Grey and Giovanni had managed to bring in someone like this.
"Officer Jenny, you don't need to head out anymore."
Grey waved casually and smiled. "Team Plasma put out fake intel. There were no Seven Sages. They just sent this Mr. Colress—who only recently joined Team Plasma—into the Kanto region."
"We've got witnesses and evidence. Once he wakes up, handle him however you want."
Grey handed his phone to Officer Jenny, then set the unconscious Colress down on the floor.
He picked up another phone and sent Lance a message.
[Dojo Annihilape: Elite Four Lance, it's over. The one I caught is the dark scientist Colress, Team Plasma's new member. photo.jpg]
[Dragon Master Lance: The dark scientist Colress? Isn't he an internationally wanted criminal? And he actually joined Team Plasma… unforgivable.]
[Dragon Master Lance: Gym Leader Grey, is there anything else?]
[Dojo Annihilape: Yes. Colress has a technique called "combining ancient Pokémon resurrection with modern technology." He successfully revived an ancient Bug-type Pokémon and added the Steel type to it. Here's a photo. Genesect.jpg]
[Dojo Annihilape: Colress calls it "Genesect." Its strength is Champion-tier, not to be underestimated.]
[Dragon Master Lance: Hm? Champion-tier?]
[Dojo Annihilape: Yes, Champion-tier. It's more like a Champion's gatekeeper level, but Gym Leader Giovanni and I still had to fight like hell to barely take it down.]
Grey typed without a hint of embarrassment, as if every word were pure truth.
If Colress ever saw that message, he'd probably vomit three liters of blood on the spot.
Somehow-magic Riolu that could use Fire Blast—seriously?!
…
…
Johto region, Goldenrod City.
Lance stared at the messages on his phone, and for a long while he couldn't calm down.
Modifying Pokémon. Adding new types.
Champion-tier strength.
Even a trainer as fiercely righteous as Lance had to admit that Colress was, in a twisted way, a remarkable talent.
Which only made Lance think harder about where Colress should end up.
Which prison would be safest?
Lance had come here to patrol because he feared Team Plasma might try to extend their reach into Johto. That meant he couldn't rush to Kanto in person right now.
And Colress's importance went without saying.
Wherever you put him, he was a catastrophic risk.
Lance still ground his teeth when he remembered how Team Rocket's officers had been arrested multiple times—only to be rescued each time by Team Rocket's mysterious boss.
At least the four executives had been fully locked away. Otherwise, Lance would've flown straight back to Kanto and personally escorted them himself.
Now, Team Plasma probably wouldn't come, right?
And Team Plasma and Team Rocket could practically be considered enemies at the moment. Team Rocket's boss had no reason to rescue someone who'd joined Team Plasma.
Especially when Colress had stolen Team Rocket's data.
How important was that data?
It didn't need explaining.
Lance didn't know exactly what it was, but for a top-tier scientist like Colress to personally go after it, it had to be information that reached Champion-tier territory at minimum.
Beep beep beep—
An incoming call lit up Lance's screen.
[Contact: Clair]
[Accept] [Decline]
Seeing his cousin's name, Lance accepted.
"Hello? What is it?"
"Cousin, there might be Team Rocket activity near Mahogany Town. Do you want to come take a look? I'm worried Pryce is getting up there in years—if he ends up trading blows with Team Rocket, something could happen."
Clair's voice came through the line.
"Give me a minute. I'm heading over right now."
The moment he heard "Team Rocket," Lance was like a different person—murderous intent rolling off him, to the point he almost wanted to fire off a few Hyper Beams at Rocket grunts on the spot just to vent.
But before that, he still had to arrange Colress's situation.
"Champion-tier… If Team Plasma sends someone to rescue Colress, they'll definitely send a trainer at a similar level…"
In Lance's mind, images of Grey and Giovanni surfaced.
Grey was Elite Four–tier, but still a small step away from the standard benchmark of an Elite Four member.
Giovanni, meanwhile, was middle-aged—and a Champion-tier trainer.
As Kanto's strongest Gym Leader, he even had power comparable to the Kanto Elite Four.
In that case…
[Dragon Master Lance: Gym Leader Giovanni, could I ask you to escort Colress to the Indigo Plateau prison?]
Lance chose the safest route and reached out to Giovanni.
Grey's strength was impressive, but he still had a gap compared to a true Champion-tier threat.
So Lance felt it was better to rely on Giovanni.
[Giovanni of the Earth: No problem. I'll rest for thirty minutes, then I'll escort Mr. Colress to Indigo Plateau. smile.jpg]
…
…
Celadon City Police Station.
"Gym Leader Grey, then we'll be on our way."
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810