[VIP Lounge for Feeding Grey (7)]
["Dojo Annihilape" has invited "Dragon Envoy Lance" to the group chat.]
["Dragon Envoy Lance" is not on your friends list. Please be mindful of privacy and safety.]
[Dojo Annihilape: Welcome, new Governor!]
[Red: …?]
[Blue: ?]
[Ice Lorelei: Eh?]
[Sleeping Beauty: Snorlax-sleeping.jpg]
[Master Mustard (Isle of Armor): Hooo-ruu~]
[Dragon Envoy Lance: Dragonite-scratching-head.jpg]
[Dragon Envoy Lance: Off to deal with Team Rocket, I'll chat when I'm free later.]
[Dojo Annihilape: Aight then, I'll just water the chat a bit more.]
[Ice Lorelei: …So, it's over?]
[Dojo Annihilape: More or less. We arrested three high-ranking Team Rocket officers, but their boss got away. Gotta say, that Beedrill of his is viciously strong!]
[Red: You actually fought him?]
[Blue: And you can still type afterward?]
Red and Blue, seeing the messages Grey sent, immediately started typing to ask what had happened.
Especially Blue. He knew perfectly well how terrifying Team Rocket's boss was.
With just that Beedrill, the man had once rampaged in and out of Lavender Town seven times. Almost nobody could stop him.
Even the Elite-level Gengar and Arcanine that Agatha and a certain senior officer from the police department had sent out had been beaten down in just a few moves by his Persian and Beedrill.
You could practically say that aside from the League's Elite Four, and himself and Red, no ordinary Trainer had any chance against that Beedrill.
[Dojo Annihilape: It wasn't that amazing. Mainly my Ditto's Transform managed to bug things out a little, and with a couple of Pokémon spamming Helping Hand, we managed to match its power for a short while.]
[Red: That's already amazing.]
[Blue: Seriously. To use Ditto to stand up to a Trainer that scary, and even last until Lance arrived—that's not something a normal Trainer can do.]
[Ice Lorelei: How did you deal with that Persian?]
[Dojo Annihilape: My Annihilape sent it flying with a single Counter.]
[Red: thumbs-up.jpg]
[Blue: (°°)]
[Master Mustard (Isle of Armor): As expected of Dojo Master Grey—didn't embarrass us Fighting-type Trainers one bit, ruu~ When you've got time, remember to come to the Galar region. I'll be waiting for you on the Isle of Armor, ruu.]
[Dojo Annihilape: Sure thing. Once I'm done with this stretch of work, I'll head over to Galar to visit you, Master.]
After sending that last message, Grey put away his phone and followed Lance to handle the aftermath.
All the small-fry grunts still left in the Team Rocket base were arrested and hauled off, and the remaining Pokémon were taken in by the League and brought back to the surface for proper placement.
Everything was looking bright and prosperous again.
The only catch was… with the Celadon Game Corner gone, Celadon City's GDP was probably going to take a long time to recover.
…
…
"Dojo Master Grey, Gym Leader Erika, I'll be escorting the Team Rocket members back to the League now. The situation is urgent—let's save the dinner for another time."
The three executives were being taken away by Lance himself this time.
He flat-out refused to believe it—there was no way Team Rocket's boss was going to snatch these three back from under his nose again.
Once Lance left, Erika's face was pure despair.
The Celadon Game Corner was gone.
That meant a whole mountain of annoying problems was about to land on her head.
Aaah! If only the League would send some management expert over to help.
Then she wouldn't have to think about all this nonsense.
"Gym Leader Erika, don't be sad. Anyway, Team Rocket's already been hauled off. If you grit your teeth and work hard for a while, you might just get that GDP back up again."
Before leaving, Grey patted Erika on the shoulder and, by the way, force-fed her a big bowl of motivational chicken soup. "Work hard, do your best, ganbatte. Under your leadership, Celadon City will definitely flourish more than ever."
"Uuugh, but…"
Erika wiped the corners of her eyes, lifted her head to gaze at the night sky over Celadon City, and let out a long sigh. "There are so many unemployed people that need to be resettled…"
"Dojo Master Grey, do you think there's a chance that maybe…"
"Right, so—I'm heading out. Bye."
Grey pulled his hand back, turned around without looking back, and with Silver in tow, climbed onto the backs of the two Legendary Pokémon and flew off.
After spending a bit of time with Erika, he already knew exactly what she wanted to say.
It was nothing more than proposing a Gym swap: he'd go act as acting Gym Leader of Celadon Gym, while Erika would head over to the Fighting Dojo to snuggle up to Sabrina.
Sounded real nice in theory.
Very soon, riding on Articuno and Zapdos, Grey and Silver arrived in front of the Celadon Department Store.
Green had just finished shopping. The moment she stepped out through the main doors, she saw the two of them landing.
"Eh? You finished that fast?"
Green blinked, clearly not expecting Grey to have wrapped things up so quickly.
She'd thought it would at least go on till past midnight before the battle ended.
But it was only a bit past ten in the evening—it had only been a few hours.
"Yeah. The Team Rocket boss didn't stick around, otherwise it wouldn't have ended so fast."
Grey nodded lightly.
Giovanni's strength was terrifying. It was a good thing he'd pulled out early.
If Giovanni had gone all out, unleashing his full ground-force army together with the power of Viridian, then even with Mew on his side, Grey would have needed to share a whole pot of pain with Lance before it was over…
"Sō ka… Ah, right! How's my little Ditto?"
Green lifted a hand and weighed it in her palm.
Grey was standing here in his own face, which meant Ditto had already gone back into its Poké Ball.
She definitely needed to sit down and have a proper chat with her Ditto.
"It's resting in its ball. It's just a little tired, best not to bother it right now."
Grey coughed lightly, then reached to his belt and took off the Poké Ball hanging there, handing it back to Green.
"Hmm? You didn't use my little Ditto for anything… y'know, the kind of stuff only a Day Care would do, right?"
The way Grey phrased things made Green suspicious.
Her little Ditto was still a kid!
It couldn't be subjected to that kind of trauma!
"Relax. I just let your Ditto go a few rounds with the Team Rocket boss's Beedrill, that's all."
Grey gave an awkward laugh and decided to just be honest.
"Oh, you just let my Ditto fight the Team Rocket boss's Beedrill…"
Green savored those words for a second, and the more she thought about it, the more wrong it sounded. "Wait, what did you say?! You had my Ditto fight that kind of monster?!"
She completely lost it at that.
"Yeah. Your Ditto was really fired up. If you don't believe me, ask it yourself."
Grey sounded completely matter-of-fact.
He'd clearly sensed Ditto's eagerness through his Aura, which was why he'd sent it out to Transform and brawl with Giovanni's Beedrill.
"…"
Green shot Grey a suspicious look, but didn't send Ditto out.
After all, Grey wasn't the kind of person who'd lie about something like this.
"All right then, I wish you good luck on your Gym challenge tour."
Before leaving, Grey spent a long time squishing Green's cheeks before reluctantly letting go.
"Mmmph… I told you to stop pinching my face already!"
Green stomped her foot in a flustered fury, cheeks burning red—but she also seemed to be getting used to Grey's habit by now.
Fine then. Once I win the Indigo Plateau Conference, I'm coming back to pinch his face!
Green swore to herself in secret.
As for Grey, he left with Silver, getting ready to head back to Saffron City.
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