Some time later, Matt, for once, brought Giovanni good news.
Archer had not disappointed Giovanni and had taken first place in the Team Rocket newcomer trials.
Under Matt's gaze, Giovanni's face showed no excitement, only a faint smile, as if he had long anticipated the outcome.
Over these past few months, Matt had also been won over by Giovanni.
"I truly understand you less and less."
Giovanni looked up at the starry sky and murmured, "Soon, I'll be back!"
Time flowed again; adding the previous few months, a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Inside Team Rocket' Viridian Base.
Because Giovanni had been publicly disgraced, Team Rocket internally believed that Giovanni had lost his qualifications.
Petrel was also unable to return.
This led to Raven and Captain Price's influence rapidly growing, and Anke, who had pledged loyalty to Giovanni, was targeted everywhere.
Even seventy percent of Anke's subordinates had defected to Captain Price and Raven's side.
After all, in their perception, no matter how good it was to follow Anke, as long as Raven became the the best candidate to be the next leader,
When Raven took power, on the day of reckoning, they would all be finished!
Moreover, they were targeted everywhere when on missions, and some who were loyal to Anke were secretly killed.
Although they were forced, they indeed rebelled.
And Anke tried to stop it, but it was useless.
Not only that, even if he reported it to Madame Boss, it was no good.
In Anke's room, the once-glorious Anke now looked utterly exhausted; he spoke wearily to Yotaro and Vicious (the future Iron-Masked Marauder who is the main antagonist of Celebi: The Voice of the Forest.), who were both somewhat injured:
"Why are you two still here? Aren't you afraid of being targeted?"
"Afraid." Unexpectedly, Yotaro and Vicious answered like this.
Anke looked deeply at the two of them, "Then why don't you leave? Your talents are good; over there, you would be treated well."
Yotaro answered Anke truthfully:
"Because we have witnessed the terror of that man! If he returns, we will die a terrible death!"
Giovanni's indifferent face appeared in Anke's mind, but he immediately shook his head. He also thought Giovanni was just hidden away.
But a year had passed, and no news of Giovanni had come out.
The organization also had no news of Giovanni's return, coupled with Raven and Captain Price's recklessness, and Madame Boss's acquiescence, he naturally also believed Giovanni had been eliminated.
Anke sighed, "He probably can't come back. Even if he does, we don't have the strength to contend with those two guys now."
Vicious shook his head, "I have a premonition that that man will be back very soon, and when he does, there will surely be a storm of blood."
Yotaro nodded in agreement beside him, "Yes."
Anke heard their words and shook his head with a complex expression, "Am I really getting old? I don't even have the foresight you two do. It seems I really should step down."
Yotaro and Vicious exchanged glances and quickly shook their heads.
Anke looked at the two youths, who now bore many more scars, and spoke faintly:
"I will try my best to protect you two, and if he really comes back, I'll go all out and take a gamble!"
Vicious and Yotaro both nodded, "Yes."
This was just one corner of it.
After the trials ended, the two hundred successful youths who remained began their training together.
And today happened to be the end of the training.
One hundred and ninety of the youths became reserve members, while only the top ten were official members, and Archer, as the victor, also had his special privilege.
That was, once he was strong enough, he would be directly promoted to Squad Leader, without needing any other assessments.
Wearing his Team Rocket uniform, Archer had shed his previous weakness and naivety; although he still looked somewhat pale, his demeanor was vastly different from before.
And the youths surrounding him were precisely those recruited by Giovanni and the Snake Squad.
Not a single one of them had been eliminated; among them, Chun'er and Jeremy were even in the top ten and top twenty, respectively, making them very excellent youths.
However, after leaving this training camp today, they were in for some trouble.
In the small training camp, a group of young youths had also formed some factions.
One rather sturdy, rebellious youth blocked Archer's path.
"Archer, don't you understand the future leader's meaning? If you're still thinking about that guy who's already been eliminated, I'm telling you, you'll be finished sooner or later!"
Archer stared coldly at the youth, the killing intent in his eyes sending a chill down the youth's spine.
"Get lost, don't force my hand!"
The youth across from him was directly forced back by Archer's killing intent, but he still didn't retreat. Instead, he spoke to Archer, saying:
"You wait. Since you insist on seeking death, then just wait. I'm telling you, even in the base, you won't live. If the future leader wants you dead, you'll be dead in minutes."
Archer disdainfully swept his gaze over the youth, then looked ahead, and his pupils contracted.
Because at the exit, a group of people had appeared at some unknown time.
Leading them was Raven, his arrogant demeanor making him seem quite formidable, though still a bit short of Giovanni.
He had come this time not only to check on Captain Price and the youths he had chosen but also to select some other youths to serve as his confidants.
His appearance made over a hundred youths present bow their heads in fear.
The youth who had just been blocking Archer seemed to have found his backbone; he hurriedly ran to Raven and shouted excitedly, "Leader!"
Raven, however, raised his hand and slapped him to the ground.
He covered his stinging cheek and looked at Raven in confusion, but the fear in his heart prevented him from daring to ask any questioning words.
"Glib-tongued fool! Do you think just anyone can challenge the organization's rules?" Raven was quite helpful, even giving him an explanation.
The youth quickly slapped his own mouth a few times, "Yes, I was wrong!"
Raven did not pity the youth for this; instead, he disliked him even more.
"A waste, couldn't even get first place, and I even prepared a Pokémon for you in advance. After you leave, don't say you're one of my people."
After these words were spoken, the youth on the ground immediately turned ashen. In his perception, Raven's words had cut off all his paths.
However, this also made the youths he usually bullied secretly gloat.
Their malicious gazes made him feel like he wanted to burrow underground.