"Beep beep~"
Aoi's Pidgeotto had secretly received instructions from its Trainer long ago. It quickly located the target they had already selected in advance—an Ordinary mid-stage Arbok.
Since it had found the target beforehand, it naturally beat Fearow back to the group. Less than ten minutes later, it flew back to report.
"Uncle, my Pidgeotto found an Arbok. Let's go."
After hearing the report, Aoi turned and spoke to the lecherous middle-aged man following behind her.
"Hahaha~ Alright, alright! Leave this Arbok to Uncle! I'll definitely let little Miss Aoi witness Uncle's true strength Hehehe"
Seeing that Pidgeotto had located the prey first, a trace of embarrassment flashed across Kosō's greasy face. He quickly used the Mind Contract to order Fearow to return as fast as possible.
To save face, he didn't even ask about the Arbok's strength before boldly taking full responsibility.
"Really?! Uncle~ You're amazing! But this is an Ordinary mid-stage Arbok. Can you really handle it?"
Aoi hadn't expected the plan to go this smoothly. Of course, to prevent him from backing out midway, she first flattered him before putting on a worried expression.
How could Kosō possibly admit weakness now?
Although hearing "Ordinary mid-stage" made him hesitate slightly, the sight of the young girl's exquisite figure quickly pushed those doubts aside. Besides, he still had four Ordinary low-stage Pokémon.
Grinding his teeth, he casually replied,
"Hahaha! Little Miss Aoi, just watch! Uncle can definitely handle it!"
"Then I'll be waiting to see Uncle's performance~"
Seeing him take the bait, Aoi immediately showed an admiring expression and sweetly agreed.
"Hahaha! No problem, no problem!"
The pot-bellied man grew even more excited after seeing the girl's admiration. He proudly patted his stomach, looking extremely confident.
Before long, Aoi led Kosō to the area where the large snake Pokémon was resting.
"Uncle It's all up to you now"
The girl pointed toward a purple snake tail protruding from the grass and spoke softly.
"Just watch me."
Kosō also noticed the purple tail. After immediately releasing all four of his Pokémon, he prepared for battle.
"Graveler, use Stomp first! Fearow, Quick Attack followed by Drill Peck! Machoke, charge in afterward for close combat!"
Although he had been slacking off for years, as someone raised in a family faction, his fundamentals were still solid. His battle arrangement was actually fairly reasonable.
"Hee-cha~ BOOM!"
Graveler attacked first, slamming its thick arms carrying Ground-type energy into the earth, instantly causing the ground to tremble.
"Rumble~"
Hidden in the distance, Icarus could even feel the vibrations beneath his feet.
"Way too inferior compared to Stone's Graveler. The energy control is awful… though that's normal for someone who's lived comfortably for too long."
While observing, Icarus silently compared it to Stone's Graveler.
Although the attack looked flashy, most of the power was wasted due to poor control—classic "all thunder, little rain."
"Chaba~"
As expected, while the tremor injured Arbok slightly, it didn't affect its mobility at all.
With a swift movement, it dodged Fearow's incoming Drill Peck.
"Cha! Shushushu!"
After dodging, Arbok instantly opened its mouth and sprayed several Poison Sting attacks toward the charging Machoke.
"Machoke, dodge! Fearow, blow away the Poison Sting!"
Seeing the situation diverge from expectations, Kosō immediately panicked and wiped away cold sweat while issuing hurried commands.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Fearow flapped its wings just in time, deflecting the Poison Sting and allowing Machoke to evade safely.
"Machoke, engage it in close combat! Graveler, use Rock Throw for support!"
Once Machoke avoided the attack, Kosō quickly organized the next wave.
"Chaba!"
"Rumble! Bang! Bang!"
Soon, the four Pokémon became locked in battle.
As for Butterfree, Kosō kept it beside him to protect his safety instead of participating directly.
Besides, even if it joined, it wouldn't contribute much. It hadn't learned Confusion, and its powder attacks were poorly trained. Against a Poison-type like Arbok, those powders were practically useless.
As time passed, the wild Arbok gradually fell into a disadvantage despite being an Ordinary mid-stage Pokémon.
Its combat instincts were decent, but against a coordinated three-on-one assault, it slowly accumulated injuries.
"Cough~ Well? Little Miss Aoi? Not bad, right? Once I retrain them for a few months, carrying you through the wild will definitely be easy."
Seeing victory approaching, Kosō immediately began boasting again, even though his own Pokémon were heavily injured.
"Heh~ Uncle, your strength really isn't much."
Lowering her head slightly, Aoi revealed a cold, disdainful smile.
The time had come.
She no longer needed to continue pretending with this disgusting pig.
"Raticate, use Hyper Fang! Pidgeotto, attack Fearow with Peck!"
She instantly gave the prearranged signal.
"SWOOSH!"
A fully developed Raticate lunged out from nearby bushes and bit directly into Butterfree's wing.
"Fuyiiiii!!"
Caught completely off guard, Butterfree had no chance to react. Hyper Fang's destructive force instantly shredded one of its wings and rendered it unable to battle.
At the same moment—
"Ratatatata!"
"Hoooo!"
"Beep beep!"
Several attacks erupted from the shadows:
Seed Machine Gun.
Ember.
Twister.
It was Icarus's three Pokémon making their move.
"Hechaaaa!"
"Kuriii!"
"Ouuu!"
The three already-injured Pokémon were instantly struck by type-advantaged attacks from behind and collapsed almost immediately.
"Miss Aoi! You bitch! What are you trying to do?!"
Perhaps because he had spent too long acting superior inside his shop, the greasy middle-aged man still failed to understand the situation and instead furiously cursed the girl.
"What do I want, Uncle Kosō? I think you still haven't realized your situation."
Aoi directly pulled out a dagger and pressed it against his fat neck.
"L-Let's talk properly, Miss Aoi! I have money! Lots of money! I can give it all to you!"
Feeling the cold blade against his skin, the pampered man finally understood reality.
This was the wilderness.
No laws.
No witnesses.
Even if he died here, everyone would simply assume he had encountered a powerful Pokémon.
"Oh? How much money, Uncle?"
At this moment, Icarus also walked out from hiding and asked with interest.
"500,000! I have 500,000 in private savings! I'll give it all to you! Please spare my life!"
Seeing Icarus emerge in full protective gear, Kosō immediately panicked.
Since only Pidgeotto had appeared openly, he couldn't identify him at all.
"Hand over the card and password. Otherwise, you die."
Seeing Icarus appear, Aoi's expression stiffened slightly. She had originally wanted to pocket the money herself, but now she had no choice.
"H-Here! The password is 453879!"
Feeling the dagger press harder against his neck, Kosō finally caved. Trembling, he handed over the bank card from his backpack.
Naturally, the card was taken by Icarus.
Afterward, he retrieved all four Poké Balls from Kosō and recalled the Pokémon.
"S-Sir… can I leave now?"
Seeing his Pokémon hadn't been killed, the greasy uncle immediately saw hope for survival.
"Not yet. Next, I'll take you somewhere nice. Maybe after you come back… we'll be family."
As he spoke, Icarus took out specially prepared Sleep Powder from his backpack and directly scattered it into Kosō's face.
"Fa… family…"
The specially refined powder from Weepinbell quickly sent the man unconscious.
"Aoi, check his backpack for anything else."
"Alright~"
The girl had already wanted to do that. She immediately grabbed the spatial backpack and began rummaging through it.
"Nothing valuable at all. Not even energy crystals. Just ordinary Pokémon feed. No wonder his Pokémon kept getting weaker."
After turning the backpack upside down, she tossed it back onto the fat man with visible disappointment.
"Then forget it. Weepinbell, I'll trouble you again. Carry him."
Icarus released Weepinbell once more and had it use vines to drag the unconscious man along.
Then the two headed toward Team Rocket's base.
Along the way, they encountered several other people escorting captured Trainers.
Seeing this, Icarus sighed inwardly.
"The three major families really can't resist Team Rocket once it gets serious…"
After handing over the captured man, they received their first reward:
50 contribution points.
As for what methods Team Rocket used afterward to make the captives willingly join them, Icarus neither knew nor cared.
Threats.
Benefits.
Mental manipulation.
Probably all of the above.
After leaving the base, Icarus first visited an ATM in the central plaza to verify the card.
Thankfully, the greasy slob hadn't lied.
There really was 500,000 Alliance currency inside.
According to their agreement, Icarus took 80%, transferring 400,000 to himself and giving the remaining 100,000 to Aoi.
Looking at the 10 contribution points and 100,000 Alliance currency she received, the girl's expression instantly darkened.
"I exposed my identity and even used my looks… and this is all I get?"
Still, she quickly adjusted herself and revealed a brilliant smile.
"…Thank you, Brother Icarus!"
"Mhm. Don't think it's too little. Once your Pidgeotto reaches mid-stage, we can renegotiate the split."
Naturally, Icarus had noticed the shift in her expression, so he casually offered some reassurance.
In reality, though, he had already planned to stop cooperating with her once she reached mid-stage.
This woman was dangerous.
Too dangerous.
Unless he himself reached high-stage and could completely suppress her, he had no intention of long-term cooperation.
Alternatively…
If he could one day place a Mind Contract on her as well…
Then perhaps he would feel safe enough.
"En~"
The girl nodded with a sweet smile.
But internally, she was thinking exactly the same thing.
"Twenty percent… way too little."
For now, though, the two remained close partners despite both harboring their own thoughts.
Just as Icarus expected, the mission only lasted eight days.
The three great families of Aoki Town collapsed shockingly fast, secretly switching allegiance to Team Rocket in under a week and a half.
During those eight days, however, Icarus and Aoi earned a massive profit.
Including the first greasy uncle, they successfully trapped six Trainers total.
Five Ordinary low-stage.
One Ordinary mid-stage.
The mid-stage Trainer nearly escaped, but fortunately both of them possessed Pidgeotto, allowing them to track him down together.
In total, the mission rewards alone gave them 330 contribution points.
At an 80% split, Icarus obtained 264 points.
But contribution points weren't even the biggest reward.
The real profit came from personal wealth.
After converting all the seized assets into Alliance currency, each target provided hundreds of thousands.
The Ordinary mid-stage Trainer alone yielded over one million.
After taking his cut, Icarus earned roughly 3.2 million in just eight days.
As for revenge?
He wasn't worried at all.
First, the only Pokémon he openly exposed was Pidgeotto—a common Pokémon everywhere.
Weepinbell and Houndoom had always attacked from hiding before being immediately recalled.
Second, he never showed his face, remaining fully concealed inside protective gear the entire time.
At most, the captives only knew:
A male Trainer.
A Pidgeotto user.
Likely Ordinary mid-stage.
There were countless people matching that description in Aoki Town.
As for whether Aoi feared retaliation…
That wasn't his concern.
He had already given her every cent she was owed.