Soon, Lorelei returned driving a small transport truck...
"The Poké Mart just got a new shipment today," she said, "There are about eight hundred Poké Balls in this truckload. You can use these first. The rest should be arriving soon from Violet City next door."
Caleb nodded and was about to board the truck when he heard a voice say, "We're here to help you, nyaa!"
Caleb turned to see a Meowth that could speak human language climbing onto the truck bed.
"Excuse me, is there anything we can do to help?" A young man in casual clothes approached, looking somewhat embarrassed as he glanced at Caleb and Lorelei.
Lorelei recognized him, her expression turning odd, "Young master of the Sasaki family? What are you doing here?"
The young man immediately panicked at her words, looking around nervously. Only after confirming no one else had heard did he stammer, "Just... just call me James. I'm not a young master anymore..."
Lorelei smirked, saying, "I've heard recently that Miss Jessebelle has been searching everywhere for you."
James didn't respond. In truth, he had run away from home precisely to escape Jessebelle.
After leaving, he had enrolled in a Pokémon training school, where he met Jessie, who had become a Pokémon nurse trainee, and later encountered a talking Meowth.
A few days ago, when they heard about the disaster here, the three of them had come to help.
Seeing James's discomfort, Lorelei stopped teasing him and said, "In that case, we'll leave it to you, James."
James gave her a grateful look, took a box of Poké Balls from Meowth, and hurried into the crowd.
Caleb spotted a woman wearing a nurse's cap nodding at James and Meowth before returning to the team treating the injured Pokémon.
That was Jessie...
Because Team Rocket had collapsed prematurely in this world, Meowth, Jessie, and James never had the chance to join the organization. Their lives had taken a different path, but fate had still brought the trio together.
Caleb recalled the hidden mission about "Jessie", that the player Gwen, had received during the first undercover operation Scenario. Perhaps the fate of the Team Rocket trio had begun to change from that moment onward.
Caleb didn't know the details of that mission, he had been busy with little Amber at the time. But no matter what, they would always be the best trio, the best partners.
"Do you know him?" Lorelei asked curiously, noticing Caleb's gaze lingering on James.
Caleb shook his head and asked casually, "Is he really the young master of the Sasaki family?"
The Sasaki family was one of the more prominent noble families in Kanto. In the Anime, they were one of the financial backers of Team Rocket.
Caleb had a rough understanding of this. If possible, he wanted to recruit James for his own team.
Of course, bringing James into the organization he planned to establish wasn't for the sake of gaining the Sasaki family's support. It was for James himself.
In the Anime, both James and Meowth were geniuses capable of handcrafting a Magikarp submarine and a Meowth balloon.
Caleb didn't want to miss out on this tech-savvy prodigy.
If he handed James and Meowth over to Lily, his plan to dominate the Pokémon world with Switch consoles could be realized even sooner.
Setting that aside, he had always had a natural fondness for the trio. It was just a shame he might never hear the classic line "Prepare for trouble..." again.
Lorelei: "He really is the young master of the Sasaki family. But I heard his parents and a young lady from another family forced him into an arranged marriage, so he ran away from home."
"Yeah, spending a lifetime with someone you don't love would be miserable," Caleb said.
Lorelei nodded in agreement, "Absolutely."
Caleb said nothing more and turned to focus on the task at hand. The process of capturing the wild Pokémon in Poké Balls wasn't going smoothly.
The ones on the brink of death or unconscious were easy enough, but those still conscious were another matter entirely.
Caleb and Lorelei received a report from a volunteer that a Kangaskhan was refusing to enter a Poké Ball at all costs.
'Kangaskhan...'
Caleb glanced at Lorelei and said, "I'll go check it out."
Lorelei nodded and followed.
It was a Kangaskhan covered in severe burns, letting out mournful cries as if searching for something.
When Caleb arrived, it had just knocked away a Poké Ball, eyeing the surrounding volunteers warily.
The volunteer who had brought Caleb over explained, "This one... it was cooperative at first, letting us treat its wounds without issue. But the moment we took out a Poké Ball, it turned aggressive..."
Caleb listened, then looked toward the Kangaskhan.
At that moment, the Kangaskhan noticed him approaching. Its eyes filled with profound sorrow as it knelt before him.
Help me... save my child!
Though it didn't speak, Caleb understood its plea immediately. It was the wild Kangaskhan he had met once before.
"I'll help you. Stand up first." He stepped forward, using the Viridian energy he had partially recovered to treat its injuries.
The Kangaskhan, which had been unmanageable just moments ago, gradually calmed under Caleb's healing.
Caleb asked, "Has anyone seen a Stantler? Young, about seventy centimeters tall."
The volunteers exchanged glances, and soon one raised a hand, "I saw one earlier, but it was completely unconscious. I caught it in a Poké Ball."
"Could you bring it to me?" Caleb requested.
The volunteer nodded, "Of course."
Soon, he returned with a red-and-white Poké Ball.
A flash of white light later, a small Stantler with closed eyes appeared before the group.
Caleb silently used the Viridian Power to heal it, watching as the little Stantler slowly opened its eyes. He then turned to Lorelei and said, "We need to speed up."
With so many injured Pokémon and delayed treatment, many of them could lose their lives permanently.
There were too few volunteers. And even with the entire town's residents pitching in, it wasn't enough. Even Nurse Joy from the Azalea Town Pokémon Center had collapsed from exhaustion.
In this situation, the only way to save them was to take them back to the Infinite World and use the Pokémon Paradise for a mass healing.
Lorelei nodded grimly, "Understood. I'll handle it."
Caleb gave a quiet hum, then turned to the unconventional mother-and-child pair before him, saying, "This forest is gone. I'll take you to a new home, a place with endless berries, warm sunlight forever, fresh air and water. If you're willing to trust me, will you enter these Poké Balls?"
The Kangaskhan and Stantler exchanged glances, then looked at Caleb and nodded, willingly entering the Poké Balls.
Seeing this, Caleb let out a sigh of relief. He stored their Poké Balls in his inventory and moved on to the next Pokémon refusing capture...