Giovanni decided to personally destroy the base. He had no intention of leaving it to the League or leaving behind any clues. Although he could have easily instructed his subordinates to handle it, or simply activated the self-destruct mechanism, his anger demanded personal action.
He fought the urge to rush back to the headquarters in Westvale. The thought of confronting the masked man who dared to kidnap his son, Silver, the child left by his late wife, pushed him to the brink. It crossed a line he could not ignore.
"I'll get the plans out of Carl," Giovanni thought coldly. "You dare touch my son, and I'll make sure your plans crumble."
The masked man's actions had enraged Giovanni. Silver and his mother were his only vulnerabilities, and now this forbidden boundary had been breached. If not for his rationality and ambition, he would have lost control long ago.
"Once Mewtwo is captured, your days are numbered," Giovanni's gaze was icy as he set off with his team.
Meanwhile, Instructor Viper was commanding his men on their mission.
Elsewhere, Jessie and James received the signal to act while in the hunting zone's service hall.
"Commence operation!" Jessie ordered.
"My name is James! Not 'Jamie'!" James corrected with exasperation, but his hands didn't stop as he swiftly relayed instructions to their team.
Soon, reports of chaos came flooding in.
"Group A triggered the alarm!"
"Group B successfully released the Tauros herd!"
"Group C breached the hunting zone, and the wild area alarm is activated!"
Jessie and James exchanged satisfied smiles as they received the updates.
Finally, Jessie approached three bound middle-aged men, releasing her Hypno. She ordered it, "Make them call the police and make the situation sound as urgent as possible."
The Hypno swung its pendulum, and everyone in the room instantly fell into a deep sleep. Jessie roughly tore the tape from a man's mouth, forcing him to dial the emergency number.
Upon hearing Officer Jenny's promise to dispatch units immediately, Jessie snatched the phone, sneering, "How bold, reporting us to the police behind Team Rocket's back?" She hung up abruptly, exchanged a knowing glance with James, and they quickly left the scene.
In the now empty service hall, Carl's figure appeared quietly. He surveyed the unconscious crowd, a playful smile tugging at his lips. "Impressive acting," he mused.
He didn't bother to wake the hypnotized individuals. Instead, he approached the middle-aged man with the removed tape. This staged act had conveniently put all the blame on Team Rocket. Carl softly muttered to himself before using his psychic powers to ask, "Caesar, did you really see a Dratini back then?"
Under hypnosis, Caesar was defenseless. "Yes."
Carl's eyes lit up at the response. He vividly remembered that the Dratini had evolved into Dragonair and continued to dwell in the waters near where Caesar had last seen it.
"Where exactly?" Carl pressed for more details.
"Zone A..." Caesar answered mechanically.
As Carl prepared to leave, a sudden realization struck him. Caesar's discovery of the Dratini had been a sensation across the entire region, even reaching other areas—after all, it involved a pseudo-legendary Pokémon.
In reality, such Pokémon were even rarer than in games and cartoons, their divine status making them virtually priceless and unattainable. If someone claimed there was a Dratini somewhere, it was as if they were saying there were billions of dollars lying around to be picked up. And the fact that it was in a heavily regulated hunting zone was even more unbelievable!
Under such circumstances, every major force would have tried to extract information from Caesar, whether overtly or covertly, even resorting to hypnosis if needed. After all, even champions would be tempted by a pseudo-legendary.
Carl sensed something was amiss. Surely, the clever ones would have asked the same questions and searched the areas where Caesar and Dratini had parted. Yet, things seemed more complicated than they appeared.
"Is the Dratini still in the hunting zone?" Carl continued to probe.
"No," Caesar replied mechanically.
This answer was intriguing. Most would have given up at this point, but Carl's curiosity was piqued.
"Do you know where the Dratini is now?"
"No."
Carl furrowed his brow. If Caesar was truly under hypnosis, how could he say he didn't know? Could it be he wasn't really hypnotized and was just playing dumb? Hypnotized individuals typically gave straightforward answers, leaving no room for doubt.
Was this another twist of fate? Perhaps the Dratini had indeed been released and was no longer in the area.
"Do you have any way of finding the Dratini?" Carl asked.
"No." Caesar's response was still crisp.
Was he really going to leave empty-handed this time?
"Didn't you ever think of capturing it?" Carl's tone carried a hint of disbelief.
Could there truly be people in this world indifferent to a pseudo-legendary, solely focused on their work?
While it's true that ordinary individuals couldn't afford the costs of raising a pseudo-legendary—the initial nurturing alone costing millions, just the bare minimum—it was still hard to imagine anyone not being tempted, even if it meant incurring debt.
"No."
Caesar's answer remained firm.
This guy was truly a saint!
"You're impressive," Carl chuckled helplessly. "I admit defeat."
He pondered, rubbing his chin, "Given the current situation, either the butterfly effect has caused Dragonair to vanish, or it has returned with its offspring to the hunting zone."
"Looks like I'll need to investigate."
"Even if I don't find anything this time, when Ash arrives here, I'll have to return."
"Sometimes, you just have to believe in luck."
With that thought, Carl half-jokingly said to the unconscious Caesar, "If I were Dragonair and had a child, I'd definitely bring it back to see you, don't you think?"
"Yes," Caesar replied mechanically.
Carl couldn't help but laugh aloud.
This guy was truly amusing, responding so seriously even under hypnosis.
Wait...
Suddenly, a realization hit him, sending a shiver down his spine.
"Could it be?"
"Is it really that absurd?"
It's well-known that in a hypnotic state, a person becomes like a machine, answering any question without independent thought.
Psychic hypnosis is even more potent, far beyond ordinary means.
Someone under hypnosis wouldn't have independent thought, let alone actively respond.
"What did I just say?"
Carl focused intently on Caesar, replaying his recent words in his mind.
"You're so selfless, if Dragonair had a child, it would surely bring it back to see you, right?" Carl had said playfully, his tone as light as teasing a pet.
Caesar, in his unconscious state, shouldn't have responded. Yet, he did, indicating that somewhere in his subconscious, he believed it was a question that needed answering.