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High above Saffron City, above the protective barrier, Eddie, Ash, and Gary arrived.
"Here, here! Eddie, you're finally here~~~ I've been waiting for you for so long."
Seeing Eddie and the others approaching, Green sat on her Clefable and floated up to meet Eddie.
"Hmm? Eddie, who is this woman? We're going to rescue people, so don't bring some weak person along who will just hold us back."
Gary could see that Green's Clefable was only at the Peak level, so he raised his eyebrows and spoke to Eddie.
He assumed Green had been brought by Eddie. Although Peak-level strength was already quite good, he felt it would be better if someone without Gym Leader-level strength didn't go in with them to rescue people. It would be too dangerous and they could easily become a burden.
In a sense, Gary was also worried about Green's safety, though his tone and expression made it hard to tell.
"Green, has your Blastoise reached the Gym Leader level yet?"
Eddie didn't respond to Gary, but asked Green instead.
Although Clefable was one of Green's main Pokémon, it wasn't her strongest. Judging a trainer's strength by a Pokémon that wasn't their strongest showed that Gary was actually too anxious and confused.
"Of course~~~ Although I just broke through recently, my strength is guaranteed to be solid. I'm now a Gym Leader-level trainer, dear~~~"
Green naturally understood Eddie's meaning. While answering Eddie's question, she also took out her own Pokédex. She wanted to check how strong Ash and Gary were now, while also revealing her own identity.
"So strong! That Blastoise is already at the Gym Leader level, and that Pidgeot is also at the Gym Leader level. Blastoise should be Gary's strongest main Pokémon, but Ash's strongest should be Venusaur and Pikachu, and I'm guessing they're also at the Gym Leader level."
After Green glanced at Ash and Gary's Pokémon, she couldn't help but be secretly surprised.
Although she considered herself not particularly suited for battling, she thought she should be quite strong. While she couldn't compare with someone like Eddie, she must be very strong compared to others.
At first she thought that Ash and Gary were just like her—trainers who had recently reached the Gym Leader level. But now, it turned out she had been too confident. She was actually the weakest Pallet Town trainer present and the weakest Pokédex holder.
"Emmm, don't worry, Green. I'm not going to focus on battling. I was investigating Team Rocket before and didn't train much. I'll just improve my skills after this battle!"
Green couldn't help but encourage herself and secretly resolved to train harder.
"Is that a Pokédex? And the Blastoise you just mentioned? Could it be that this woman is the fourth Pokédex holder?"
After hearing what Eddie said, Gary also noticed the Pokédex in Green's hand and naturally understood her identity.
Although he used a questioning tone, he had already confirmed Green's identity. While he was slightly puzzled as to why Professor Oak hadn't told him there was a fourth Pokédex holder, now wasn't the time to dwell on this, so he didn't ask further.
"Fine. Since you're also a Pokédex holder and a trainer with Gym Leader-level strength, I won't say more. Just be careful and watch your back."
Gary looked at Green's status as a Pokédex holder and her strength, so he didn't try to stop her from following them.
"The fourth Pokédex holder? Let's have a proper battle sometime, but for now, let's deal with the matter at hand."
Ash was a natural battler, and when he found out that Green was also a Pokédex holder, he instinctively wanted to battle her. Fortunately, he knew now wasn't the right time, and suggested to Green that they could battle when they had time later.
"Green, you've observed the situation in Saffron City before, right? Tell us what the current situation is."
Eddie knew that Green wouldn't just wait idly for him to arrive. She must have already scouted Saffron City with her telescope from high altitude.
"Of course. Take out your Pokédexes and I'll send you the recorded footage."
Upon hearing this, everyone took out their Pokédexes, and Green took out that special telescope. This device was multifunctional and could record videos, which was normal. Now Green sent all the recorded footage to Eddie and the others.
"There are very few pedestrians in the entire city—or rather, almost no ordinary people wandering the streets.
Almost every street is patrolled by Team Rocket members, especially at the transportation hubs connecting Saffron City to the other four cities.
There are even more Team Rocket members there—it's frightening."
Gary looked at the streets and the four exits of Saffron City filled with Team Rocket members, and couldn't help but feel a surge of pressure. He hadn't expected Team Rocket to be making such a massive move this time—coming out in full force, truly preparing for war.
However, when he shifted his gaze to Eddie and the others around him, he felt the pressure in his heart ease considerably, and he couldn't help but feel grateful that he wasn't fighting alone.
"At each of the four exits of Saffron City, nearly ten thousand Team Rocket members have gathered. It seems the boss of Team Rocket already knew about the League's actions and deployed troops in advance to prepare for battle."
Although Eddie had seen such large numbers of Team Rocket members in his previous life, he couldn't help but feel somewhat shocked seeing it again.
"It seems only a small portion of Team Rocket gathered at the Seafoam Islands. If Team Rocket really comes out in full force, it becomes a terrifying sight like this."
An evil organization with an army numbering in the tens of thousands—just imagining it showed how powerful Team Rocket truly was.
"However, Team Rocket shouldn't have had so many members originally. It should be because of the players that they've been strengthened. Although the overall strength of the players is relatively weak at this stage, their numbers are so huge that it's terrifying."
There were hundreds of millions of players entering the Pokémon world. Even though they were divided among seven regions when they chose their starting region, each region had at least nearly one hundred million players.
Although not everyone changed their profession to become a battler, many people actually came here just to enjoy life.
Among them were many elderly people, middle-aged people, and even children.
While some young people and teenagers came here for adventure, many wanted to travel around the Pokémon world more than anything.
Those with weak strength weren't necessarily bad.
There were very few people who wanted to make a name for themselves in the game and become powerful trainers. After all, this game was really difficult. Most people just played it casually, and only a very small number of people would grind every day just to level up.
So, in the Kanto Region, there were nearly one hundred million players, but the number of those who could actually participate in battle was probably less than one thousandth—around one hundred thousand.
But could just one hundred thousand players really cause trouble for the nearly forty thousand Team Rocket members?
PS: The strength comparison between the player group and Team Rocket must be explained clearly, otherwise someone will definitely ask—with so many players, why not just use numbers to overwhelm Team Rocket? To be honest, this is really impossible.
With such powerful creatures as Pokémon, war cannot be fought in conventional ways.
When strength reaches a certain level, no matter how many weak individuals there are, they will all be defeated.