"You two showed up quite 'on time,' didn't you?" Thousand-Year Gengar complained. Only arriving after the battle had already ended—what excellent timing they had chosen.
Seeing this, Hitmonchan and Abra awkwardly scratched their heads, their eyes drifting elsewhere.
"Why do you two look like you've got kidney deficiency? Don't tell me you secretly did something perverted behind our backs just now~"
Thousand-Year Gengar floated 'curiously' beside Hitmonchan and Abra. Seeing Hitmonchan carrying the utterly exhausted Abra on his back, a knowing grin appeared on his face.
'I'm not that kind of Pokémon!'
Hitmonchan was so startled that he directly dropped Abra onto the ground. He absolutely did not want to be misunderstood by Thousand-Year Gengar.
'I—you—!'
Landing on his backside, Abra rubbed his faintly reddened butt in pain. If he hadn't exhausted so much stamina repeatedly using Teleport earlier, Abra would definitely have made Hitmonchan experience the 'pleasure' from top to bottom.
"Stop messing around, Gengar. Hitmonchan and Abra aren't the type to delay things. Something probably held them up," Red said.
'That's right, that's right!' Hitmonchan nodded.
'While this one and his attendant were on the way to support Lord Demon King, we unexpectedly sensed a terrifying abyssal power, so we slowed our pace,' Abra explained.
Hitmonchan originally wanted to refute Abra's use of the word "attendant," but when he noticed Abra's faintly reddened backside, he ultimately swallowed his protest.
"What nonsense is this kid babbling about? I didn't understand a thing," Thousand-Year Gengar said in confusion.
'It means that on the way here we happened to discover a timed bomb. To make sure this underground experimental base wouldn't be destroyed, we were delayed,' Hitmonchan 'translated' for Abra.
"Boss, these two found a timed bomb, so that's why they came late," Thousand-Year Gengar explained.
Red fell silent for a moment and quietly looked at the timed bomb Abra was holding.
"I can see it..."
Blue light shone from Red's eyes as he used psychic power to control the timed bomb and float it into his hand. These bombs had already had their ignition wires cut by Abra using telekinesis, so they could no longer explode.
"Looks like that guy Damon left me a little farewell gift before he escaped," Red said calmly, guessing that Damon did it so they would all perish together with this underground experimental base.
"Gengar, go check if the computer data can still be accessed."
After hearing this, Thousand-Year Gengar quickly moved to the computer used to operate the machinery. Tapping on the keyboard and checking the data, he discovered that the base's files had already begun formatting and no information could be read.
"Boss, this deletion method is very targeted. It deletes the important parts and replaces them. Even if we had copied the files at the beginning, it would probably just be a pile of useless data," Thousand-Year Gengar explained.
"It doesn't matter. This has nothing to do with us," Red said calmly. Since the data in front of them was already useless, Red prepared to leave with his Pokémon and let the police led by Officer Jenny handle things here.
Seeing that the battle had ended, Beedrill also canceled its Mega Evolution. Experiencing Mega Evolution with Red for the first time, Beedrill suffered no negative effects at all. Instead, its instincts were excited—after all, Beedrill and Red had been partners for many years, and the synchronization between their stamina and minds had long reached a perfect level.
Charizard shook his head regretfully. After coming out for so long, he barely had anything to do. Only being left with the dirty job of burning the corpse of the Three-Headed Sacred Bird felt like a waste of his talents.
Just as Red was about to leave, Officer Jenny and the police arrived at the laboratory, surrounding Red and his Pokémon while cautiously observing him.
"Are you all idiots? Boss and I came all the way here and worked our asses off helping you deal with Team Rocket, and instead of thanking us, you treat us like enemies?" Thousand-Year Gengar said irritably. What an unlucky situation.
"My apologies, Mr. Red."
The leading Officer Jenny had heard of Red's deeds and quickly ordered her subordinates to lower their guard. She politely extended her hand to shake Red's.
"Celadon Game Corner is a secret operational experimental base established by Team Rocket. It mainly captures wild Pokémon for cloning experiments. However, the computer data here has already been formatted and can't be used anymore."
Red briefly explained what had happened and also asked Officer Jenny about the Pokémon Abra had rescued. After learning that Nurse Joy was outside to receive them, he slowly let out a sigh of relief.
"This Dodrio's body is already severely damaged. I need to leave immediately and find Nurse Joy for treatment."
After saying that, under everyone's astonished gaze, Red and Abra simultaneously used Teleport and took all the Pokémon away, leaving behind only Officer Jenny and the officers staring at each other, as well as the cracked craters all around that hinted at the extraordinary battle that had occurred earlier.
To avoid unnecessary commotion, Red recalled his Pokémon, leaving only Eevee and Dodrio beside him.
"Nurse Joy, please give Dodrio a full-body examination immediately. This Dodrio has been imprisoned in a cage for experiments, and its body is already on the verge of collapse," Red said urgently.
"Don't worry. I'll take good care of this Dodrio," Nurse Joy assured him, instructing her assistant Chansey to push over a hospital bed and place Dodrio on it.
Dodrio struggled to sit up on the bed, looking gratefully at Red. However, Dodrio did not develop the desire to become Red's partner. This was not because Dodrio was foolish, but because of fear deep within its heart.
Dodrio had personally witnessed the power of Beedrill and the others. It clearly understood that if it joined Red's team, it would only become a burden. All Dodrio could do was turn its gratitude toward Red into motivation to become stronger, silently wishing that Red would one day stand at the very pinnacle.
"Red, Eevee! Thank goodness you're alright..."
Erika, who had been standing not far away, ran toward Red. However, her expression looked slightly flustered. As a Gym Leader, she had never realized that Team Rocket had already infiltrated Celadon City.
Because Erika felt she had failed in her duties, she didn't dare meet Red's eyes.
"It's alright, Erika," Red said gently to comfort her. "The strength of Team Rocket isn't something one person can stop. You don't need to take it too much to heart."
"I just feel that as a Gym Leader, I didn't do anything during this incident..." Erika said quietly with her head lowered in guilt.
"That's not true. If you hadn't taken care of Eevee, Eevee might have been taken away by Team Rocket long ago. If that had happened, things probably wouldn't have been so simple," Red explained, hoping she wouldn't carry such a heavy burden.
"Eevee~"
Seeing this, Eevee jumped into Erika's arms and licked her face, telling her not to be so sad anymore.
"Red, if possible, I hope Eevee can be entrusted to your care," Erika said seriously. Then she gave an awkward smile. "Actually, that's not quite right. Eevee was yours to begin with—I was only taking care of it for a short time."
Sensing the trembling of Erika's hands, Eevee also knew that Erika was reluctant to see it leave. But from beginning to end, Eevee's longing had always been directed toward Red.
The moment when Red rescued Eevee in Viridian Forest that day had long been deeply engraved in Eevee's mind. When Eevee wanted to turn back and search for Red, he had already disappeared without a trace.
From then on, Eevee also set out on its own journey—
All for the sake of meeting Red again!
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo