— — — — — —
"Hehe! I just wanted to surprise you guys! You'll find out when you get back!" Eevee grinned cheekily.
"Fine then! We're coming back right now!"
Cynthia didn't push for details. She hung up immediately and turned to Sabrina. "Let's go! You teleporting us, or should I?"
"I'll do it."
Sabrina nodded, took Cynthia's hand, locked onto the coordinates, and with a soft swish, the two of them vanished into thin air.
A few people on the street caught a glimpse of this and started chattering excitedly:
"Whoa! Did they just teleport? Are those two psychics or something?"
"That's insane!"
"No kidding!"
"Man, teleportation powers like that? Straight out of a dream! If only Alvis could do that!"
"Haha, that's impossible!"
"Oh come on! I'm not even allowed to dream now?"
"Nah, just keep dreaming, buddy."
"..."
— — —
"We're back! Where is it? Where's the stuff?"
As soon as they reappeared back home, Cynthia and Sabrina made a beeline for Eevee.
"Wait a moment! First, let's head to the backyard and call all the Pokémon together. I'll explain everything on the way!"
Eevee waved them along, then added, "See, the potions I brought back each have elemental affinities. Not every Pokémon can use them. If the attributes don't match, best case, they won't work well. Worst case? It could mess with their genetic stability and purity."
"Of course, there are a couple that are more universal—the High-Grade Sage Body Potion and the Sharingan Serum..."
As Eevee explained, the trio headed toward the backyard.
— — —
Day 5.
After wrapping up training plans with Garchomp and the others, Eevee said his goodbyes to Cynthia and Sabrina, then teleported straight to the outskirts of Viridian City in Kanto.
There, he immediately reached out telepathically. "Mewtwo, are you ready?"
Deep beneath the Viridian Gym, in the Rocket Team's underground lab, a Pokémon restrained in full psychic armor suddenly opened its eyes.
Mewtwo responded telepathically, "I'm ready. We can start any time. Also—Giovanni and Executive Archer are both here."
"No big deal. I never took those guys seriously anyway. If you're good to go, then let's get this started!"
The very next second, Eevee appeared right next to Mewtwo.
The same kind of psychic disruption devices Rocket had once used at the Celadon city were also installed here—but they were useless now. They couldn't interfere with Eevee's teleportation or psychic abilities anymore.
Beep! Beep! Beep!~
As soon as Eevee popped in, alarms blared throughout the Rocket base.
"Boss! We've got an intruder—near Mewtwo!"
"What?!"
Giovanni shot up from his chair, face darkening. "What the hell is going on? Who is it?!"
"It's a young man, sir! But we don't recognize him!"
The grunt monitoring the security feed stammered as he reported in.
"I'm coming down right now! Tell Archer to hold him off!"
"Yes, sir!"
Giovanni stepped into the hidden elevator in his office and descended into the base below.
— — —
Meanwhile, outside Viridian Gym—
"When exactly is this operation supposed to start? Is Renzo really up for this?"
Lance and Lorelei had arrived with a whole squad of League investigators. Lorelei glanced at her watch, then turned to Lance, clearly getting impatient.
They'd known Renzo for years and worked with him plenty of times.
A few days ago, out of the blue, Renzo—(Eevee in his human form)—had contacted them with a bombshell—he'd found the Rocket Boss's true base of operations.
Even more shocking, he'd outright exposed Giovanni's real identity.
That's what brought Lance and Lorelei rushing in.
"Relax."
Lance chuckled and shook his head. "You know how strong that guy is. Even without his Pokémon, just on his own, he's basically Champion-tier. There's no way someone like that is gonna have any trouble."
"Honestly, I still have no clue how he got this strong."
"He's not just a powerful psychic—his hand-to-hand combat is also at Champion level! That's ridiculous!"
"He puts Bruno to shame!"
"And to top it all off, he's stupidly good-looking, and his build's nothing like Bruno's. How the hell does he punch that hard?"
Lance couldn't help but feel the world was just plain unfair.
He'd once pit his ace Dragonite against Renzo in a one-on-one fight—and still lost.
Yes, you heard that right. A human fighting a Pokémon.
Ever since that humiliating moment, Lance had come to a painfully clear realization—Renzo is a total freak.
And it wasn't just him. His girlfriends, Cynthia and Sabrina, were just as insanely strong.
Some even said Renzo had mastered secret techniques and some kind of high-level psychic meditation method. People had tried begging him to teach them before… and were flat-out rejected.
And considering how powerful Renzo and his circle were, no one dared to press the issue.
But, to be honest, that wasn't even the part Lance envied the most.
What really ate away at him… was the fact that Renzo had two girlfriends.
"This world is too damn unfair…"
Lance sulked the moment the thought crossed his mind.
Cynthia and Sabrina—both absolute goddesses, and top-tier trainers in their own right.
And that bastard somehow got both of them? Completely devoted, no less?
Yeah, Lance was bitter. Extremely bitter.
He wasn't exactly lacking in looks either. Tall, cool, confident—he had the whole "handsome champion" vibe down. And yet… he couldn't even get one girlfriend.
Pathetic.
"…Well, actually," Lance thought to himself, casting a sneaky glance at Lorelei nearby, "she's pretty damn hot too…"
But the moment his eyes lingered, Lorelei caught him.
She raised an eyebrow and snapped, "Watch where you're looking, perv. Don't get any weird ideas. I'm not into you."
Lance: "…"
"Wait, hold on! I didn't even say anything! And what do you mean 'not into me'? What's wrong with me?! I've got the looks! I've got the skills! I'm not exactly unpopular, y'know!"
Lorelei shot him a side-eye. "And? What's that got to do with me liking you? Besides, you really think you can compare yourself to Renzo? The guy's on another level in both looks and strength."
Lance's face darkened. "...Who the hell wants to be compared to that monster? There's probably not a single human or trainer on Earth who can beat him. Even the President admitted he's not Renzo's match…"
Yeah. That was real.
Lance had heard it with his own ears.
"So stop whining," Lorelei teased. "Anyway, I've made up my mind. I'm gonna take a vacation to Sinnoh in a few weeks. Hehe~"
Lance gave her a blank stare. "Seriously? Is this necessary? The guy already has two girlfriends. What do you even see in him?"
"That's none of your business~"
— — —
Meanwhile, in the underground Team Rocket base…
The moment Eevee in his human form appeared, he casually waved his hand—and the restrictive armor clamped around Mewtwo fell away.
He was planning to just toss it, but after a brief thought, he decided to store it in his spatial bracelet instead.
Right after, he summoned a small orb.
With a quick pulse of energy, the orb transformed into a tiny robot.
"Red Queen, copy all the data in this place. Digital and paper. Don't miss a single scrap."
"As you command, Master."
Red Queen rolled off to a nearby computer, extended a data cable, and jacked directly into the base's network. Instantly, it began ripping through their security, copying files like wildfire.
At the same time, it activated its scanning feature, sweeping through the entire lab with laser precision.
Suddenly, a group of Team Rocket guards and scientists burst onto the scene.
Seeing Mewtwo freed of its restraints, their faces went pale.
One of them immediately started shouting, "Who the hell are you?! Do you even realize where you are?! This is a restricted—listen! Give up now, and maybe we'll let you live!"
They all released their Pokémon, surrounding Eevee from all sides.
"Ugh. Noisy."
Before Eevee could even reply, Mewtwo floated into the air, eyes glowing with power.
"Psychic Shockwave."
A crushing wave of psychic energy erupted from Mewtwo.
The guards didn't even get to scream. One by one, they clutched their heads and collapsed to the floor, unconscious—blood seeping faintly from their ears, nose, and eyes.
Even their Pokémon were instantly KO'd, eyes spiraling into unconsciousness.
.
.
.