In the lowest warehouse of the S.S. Anne...
"Hey, when are you actually planning to make your move? The other side is already starting some tournament event. It's obvious they want to gather all the strongest trainers on the ship in one place. Your low-level thugs won't be able to handle trainers of that caliber when the time comes."
The woman named Lisa leaned against a shipping container, a lady's cigarette dangling between her sexy red lips. She looked toward the hulking dark shadow in the corner with dissatisfaction. "You know exactly what kind of trash your subordinates are. I really don't understand what went through your heads, thinking you could raid the S.S. Anne."
The burly shadow stepped out of the corner, revealing the bald man with the neck tattoo. He was Mundo, a mid-level Team Rocket executive previously mentioned by the League Investigator, Kurama.
Mundo looked at the woman with a calm, cold expression. "Take your money and do your job. Don't ask questions you shouldn't. You should know that for a hyena like you, the more you know, the faster you die."
"Fine, fine, I won't ask." Lisa tossed her cigarette to the floor and crushed it under her boot. "But you have to tell mewhen is our backup arriving?"
"The day after tomorrow at the latest," Mundo said, his expression grim. "The ship is still too close to Vermilion City. If anything happens now, League reinforcements will arrive instantly. We have to wait two more days. When the time comes, Boss Chenyi will take action personally."
"So it was Chenyi's idea," Lisa muttered, her expression turning playful. "You guys aren't doing this behind Boss Giovanni's back, are you? Hmph, if that man found out... well, I'd hate to see your end."
Mundo, who had been stoic until now, grew visibly tense at the mention of Giovanni. His voice rose slightly. "Just do your job. This isn't something you're allowed to question. We wouldn't have organized this operation without permission from above."
"Tch!"
Lisa gave him a contemptuous middle finger and walked out of the warehouse doors with her long legs.
Mundo watched her departing back, his face becoming colder. This woman was getting restless. Chenyi was right; once this operation was over, they should make her disappear forever. After collaborating so many times, she knew too many Team Rocket secrets. Who knew if the League would turn her one day?
As the bald man also vanished from the warehouse, the dark space returned to a deathly silence. However, neither of them noticed a white ghostly shadow detaching itself from the wall of a shipping container.
"Jie-jie!"
The white shadow let out an eerie laugh that sent chills down to the bone. It had deep purple eyes and a snow-white body. It possessed humanoid limbs, a short sharp tail, and a row of spikes along its back.
From its appearance, it was clearly a Gengar. But unlike a normal Gengar, which had a dark body and blood-red eyes, this one was completely different in color.
While Lisa and Mundo had been talking, this White Gengar had used the natural invisibility skills of Ghost Pokémon to hide among the containers. The two had noticed nothing.
In the same meeting room as before...
Baijie sat with his legs crossed, spinning a pencil in his hand. The pencil seemed magnetic, rotating and flipping between his fingers without ever showing a sign of falling.
A white ghostly figure passed straight through the walls and appeared in the room. When the White Gengar fully manifested, the temperature in the meeting room seemed to plummet.
Baijie wasn't at all surprised by its appearance. He continued to spin his pencil. Seeing that no one else was around, the White Gengar floated to Baijie's ear and whispered a long string of unintelligible gibberish while covering its mouth.
"Whitey, are you saying they plan to strike the day after tomorrow?" Baijie sat up straight, and his pencil began to sketch something on the paper before him.
"Jie-jie~"
Whitey nodded and let out a sinister chuckle.
"Very good!" Baijie tossed the pencil into the holder and stood up with a smile. "It seems Team Rocket really is facing a financial crisis. They must be working on something big in the shadows, something that costs a fortune. They've even sent out a powerhouse like Chenyi to do dirty work like robbing a cruise ship."
"You've worked hard, Whitey." Baijie took out a solid black Special Ball and recalled the White Gengar.
This operation was vital to him. If handled correctly, no one would be able to attack his lack of seniority ever again. Baijie admitted that becoming the Kanto League's Chief Investigator at his age was largely due to his powerful grandmother.
The world was never short of geniuses. Especially for the League, which controlled the resources of an entire continentwhat were geniuses? Geniuses were like chives; you could cut them down and they'd just grow back.
There were many young trainers in the League whose strength rivaled Baijie's, and a few who were even stronger. So why was he the one who became Chief Investigator? He wouldn't claim it was because he was exceptionally superiorthough his talent played a small part. After all, no matter how powerful a family was, they couldn't put a complete fool in the position of Chief Investigator.
Everything was in place. Baijie looked forward to the duel with the Team Rocket elite in two days. The bait had been set; now he just had to wait for the big fish to bite.
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