"You mean..."
Ariel's eyelids lowered slightly, his fingers unconsciously tapping, making a rhythmic tap, tap sound.
He didn't finish his sentence, just looked at Dar with a calm gaze that carried an invisible scrutiny.
Dar smiled.
He liked this feeling, not needing to explain everything for the other party to accurately capture the core. It saved a lot of unnecessary talk.
"Talking to smart people is effortless."
Dar's posture was relaxed, but the purpose in his words was undisguised.
"You know better than I do what kind of person Corona is."
He paused, observing Ariel's reaction.
"The successor to Lord Archer—Archer has the highest status among the four Special-Grade Executives. He believes in his bones that he should be our leader. How could someone like that tolerate a person whose strength is not inferior to his, or who might even surpass him, by his side?"
Dar's voice wasn't loud, but every word was clear.
"The next mission is actually an internal power reshuffle. Do you think he'll throw you a good ball?"
Ariel remained silent.
The face of Corona, always carrying a hint of arrogance, surfaced in his mind.
Indeed, in that guy's eyes, there was undisguised wariness and ambition.
In their few brief encounters before, the sense of rejection from the other party was almost palpable.
"He won't."
Dar spoke the answer for Ariel, his tone certain.
"He'll only try his best to trip you up and make you look bad, just to prove that you are inferior to him."
"As for Viper..."
Dar curled his lip, revealing a trace of disdain.
"That woman is unpredictable, her head full of nothing but her bottles and jars. If you ally with her, you have to watch your back at all times, careful of when she might give you a needle."
After he finished speaking, a brief silence fell.
Dar's words were like a precise scalpel, dissecting the subtle and tense relationship between the four.
Corona's arrogance, Viper's gloominess, and Dar himself... what was this guy, who seemed the easiest to cooperate with, calculating deep down?
Ariel knew well that in the massive profit-driven meat grinder of Team Rockets, there was no such thing as kindness without reason.
Any gesture of goodwill came with a price tag attached.
Dar was throwing an olive branch now simply because he valued his strength and wanted to tie him to his chariot to oppose Corona.
Or even thinking the worst, he simply wanted to use him as a tool.
"I am your best choice, Ruth."
Dar's tone was sincere, his eyes looking straight at Ariel.
"Together, Corona is nothing to fear. The top spot of the mission will be within our grasp."
Ariel's fingers stopped tapping.
He looked up, meeting Dar's gaze, and after a few seconds, he slowly spoke:
"What if I refuse?"
The smile on Dar's face remained unchanged, as if he had long expected Ariel to ask this.
He spread his hands, his posture free and easy:
"It doesn't matter. Alliances are a matter of mutual consent. You can take your time to consider. When you've thought it through, come find me anytime."
He stood up, straightened his meticulous collar, said goodbye, and turned to leave without any hesitation.
Watching Dar's back disappear through the doorway, Ariel's gaze returned to calm.
An alliance?
Perhaps.
But not now.
Before thoroughly understanding the true nature of these people, he wouldn't fully trust anyone... The night was as dark as ink, weighing heavily on the research base.
Only a desk lamp was on in Ariel's room, its light dim and yellow, casting a long shadow of him.
That Pseudo-Legendary egg was lying quietly on a constant-temperature nutrient base.
Ariel walked over, temporarily putting the conversation with Dar from earlier that day out of his mind.
His attention was completely drawn to this egg.
Ariana had said that the Pseudo-Legendary egg she gave him was a top-tier specimen, carefully selected with immense potential.
He leaned down, carefully observing the patterns on the eggshell.
Suddenly, his pupils constricted slightly.
"Click."
An extremely faint cracking sound was exceptionally clear in the silent room.
On the smooth surface of the eggshell, a crack as thin as a hair was slowly but firmly extending upward.
It's hatching!
Ariel's heart skipped a beat, followed by an irrepressible surge of excitement.
He held his breath, staring at the egg without blinking.
"Click... crack..."
More and more cracks appeared, like a fine spiderweb, quickly covering the entire eggshell.
The egg began to shake slightly, the frequency getting faster and faster.
Finally, with a crisp cracking sound, a piece of the eggshell was pushed open from the inside and fell off.
A small head covered in black fur poked out clumsily from the opening.
It seemed a bit uncomfortable with the external light, shaking its head blankly.
Since its eyes were covered by the thick fur on its head, it couldn't see anything at all and could only rely on instinct, bumping with its head and biting with its mouth to explore this brand-new world.
Deino!
Ariel's breathing became a bit hurried.
This was his first Pseudo-Legendary, a terrifying existence that could evolve into Hydreigon in the future!
He didn't step forward immediately but took out his pokédex and aimed it at the little guy who had just Shell Smashed out and was still struggling with its eggshell.
"Beep."
The pokédex screen lit up, followed by a mechanical electronic voice.
"Deino, the Irate pokémon. Level: 15. Type: Dark, Dragon. ability: Hustle (Increases Attack but lowers accuracy.)"
"Skills: Dragon Rage, Bite, Headbutt, Dragon Breath. Physical development far exceeds its kin. Extremely violent temperament. Because it is blind, it explores its surroundings by bumping and biting, so it is always covered in new injuries..."
A series of data flowed past, and Ariel's gaze was tightly Lock-On the last column of the screen.
There was the potential assessment.
"Potential Assessment: Elite Four Level!"
Just four words, but they were like a thunderclap, exploding in Ariel's mind!
Elite Four Level!
He took a sharp breath, his heart racing uncontrollably.
This was the peak of potential in this world!
One must know that most regional Champions spend their entire lives only able to cultivate one Champion-level ace; the rest of their main force mostly stays at the peak of the Elite.
And Trainers who can reach the Champion level are as rare as phoenix feathers or unicorn horns; a region might not see one born in decades.
Therefore, Elite Four Level potential is almost equivalent to a ticket to the top of the world!
Given enough time and resources, this little guy will surely grow into a powerful Hydreigon that can sweep across a region!
Suppressing the wild joy in his heart, Ariel tried to reach out his hand, wanting to touch this future ace.
However, as soon as his hand got close, the Deino seemed to sense something.
It snapped its head around, followed the scent, opened its mouth, and bit right onto Ariel's finger!
The sharp teeth instantly pierced the skin, and a piercing pain followed.