Grey walked down the stairwell and noticed the security camera in the corner start to move. That alone was enough to tell him Proton had locked onto his position.
"Hey, weren't you saying you wanted a good long talk with me? Call out where you are. I really wanna hear just what exactly you think you're gonna talk to me about."
Grey said a few words to the camera, even giving a little wave to greet Proton on the other side of the screen.
The camera crackled with a harsh "zzzz" of static, but Proton still didn't respond.
Inside the control room.
"Petrel, what exactly do you think you're doing?"
Proton frowned, clearly displeased with Petrel trying to wrestle away control.
"Proton, you really planning to discuss that with Grey? If you're honestly that naive, then why don't you go talk to that guy Lance instead?"
Petrel slammed a palm on the console and pointed straight at Proton's nose, barking at him.
Having tangled with Grey twice already, the last thing he wanted was to watch his own people get run ragged like a bunch of Growlithe on a leash.
Even if he did have beef with Proton, as two of Team Rocket's Four Generals, there was at least some camaraderie there.
"Are you stupid or what? You lure him in first, then talk! In a tight space like this, even if his Articuno wants to come out, the battlefield will completely ruin its performance."
Proton swore outright. He'd finally gotten a chance to trick Grey into walking in here, only for this "overly concerned" Petrel to screw it all up.
"You… you really don't want to recruit Grey?"
Wiping Proton's spit from his face, Petrel frowned and asked.
Based on how Proton had been acting just now, he definitely hadn't looked like a guy with zero intention of recruiting.
He practically had the word "sincere" written across his forehead!
In a situation like that, asking Petrel to believe him was a bit of a stretch.
"I seriously don't know if getting blown up with that Self-Destruct softened your brain or what. You can't even understand something this simple?"
Rubbing at his dark brows, Proton couldn't help saying, "If we can recruit him, we recruit. If we can't, then you and I just suppress him here. Either way, that gentleman is right above us right now—so even if something goes south, we can still walk away in one piece."
For this escape operation to go smoothly, the Boss himself had come in person.
Right now, he was watching from the sky above.
But since they didn't know whether the League would send reinforcements, Giovanni hadn't made any moves yet. He was quietly waiting for the perfect opening—
A chance to rescue them all in one go.
"If that gentleman is here, then we shouldn't have much to be afraid of, right?"
Petrel's tone was heavy. When it came to Grey, he really did have a psychological shadow.
He'd already tasted Lorelei's ice, Sabrina's psychic power, and Grey's fighting technique…
You could say he'd sampled the full menu.
The only thing left at the top of Kanto's "must-try list" was Lance's Dragonite's Hyper Beam.
Certified little glutton for punishment.
————
On Grey's end, it was basically a full-on stomp.
Aside from a few weaker ones and the three big enforcers who had to stay behind as the dojo's "front desk," he'd brought every other Pokémon with him.
He hadn't exactly filed a formal report in advance, but this counted as special circumstances. The League would understand.
"Machaaamp." (Are all the Team Rocket members down here this weak? They're nothing like the ones we ran into before.)
Machamp scratched its head with one big hand; with the other, it casually grabbed a Raticate trying to sneak-attack from the side and hurled it straight at a Golbat diving in from above.
To be fair, the Rocket grunts here just weren't giving it the catharsis it wanted.
Bullying pushovers? What was the point in that? It wanted to play in the big leagues!
"How is that guy's Machamp this strong…"
"That body is so massive and powerful, I can't even deal…"
"Hey, knock it off! You can't be thinking things like that～"
Even before they got smacked around, the gathered Rocket members were already staring at this Machamp that moved like a god of slaughter. A few female grunts couldn't help swallowing hard, letting their imaginations run wild.
"Machaaamp." (Too noisy. I'll just toss you all out.)
Listening to the cacophony in its ears, Machamp dug a finger into one ear and walked toward the cluster of female members.
"Uuugh, Machamp's coming this way!"
"Ah～ that towering body is getting closer and closer…"
"Wait, I'm a guy, damn it! Don't do that kind of thing to me!!!"
Hearing those pig-squeal screams, Grey merely sighed, shook his head, and hurried deeper into the base.
"Oh, right, I've got a question for you lot. You'd better answer honestly."
As if something had just occurred to him, Grey suddenly stopped and looked back at the group. "Where do you keep the prize Pokémon for Celadon Game Corner? And don't tell me they're out on display upstairs. I'm asking about the stash you're hiding."
"So that's all it is, a Pokémon hunter. I really thought you were a League trainer…"
The moment they heard what he was after, the remaining Rocket grunts all visibly relaxed.
With someone this strong, they'd naturally assumed he had to be from the League.
But the first thing out of his mouth was asking about prize Pokémon.
Wasn't that just straight-up trying to rob the robbers?
In an instant, they all mentally reclassified Grey as a Pokémon Hunter, and their wariness dropped quite a bit.
Black-on-black crime was different from the League. Colleagues in the same line of work, you still had to think about professional courtesy—maybe break a few bones, but that was about it.
League trainers were another matter; when they came to arrest Team Rocket, it was totally normal for people to end up missing an arm or a leg.
"Sir, you're valiant and unmatched—allow me to personally escort you to where we keep our Game Corner's Pokémon!"
A Rocket grunt with flattery skills on par with Hien stepped up and took the initiative to play guide.
He nodded and bowed as he walked in front, the very picture of an overly attentive tour guide.
"Right this way! Absolutely no ambushes!"
As the two of them went past, Rocket members on both sides of the corridor pressed their backs flat against the walls. A newbie even dropped his walkie-talkie on the floor, but nobody dared bend down to pick it up.
In their line of sight, Annihilape was slowly dragging an unconscious Rocket member along behind Grey. The scraping sound was like a dull blade sawing directly across their nerves.
"This guy can't be a League trainer, right? I've never seen a trainer this ruthless—he's literally dragging some knocked-out bro around…"
"I heard from over there he's actually here to rob us, stealing this batch of 'new stock'."
"Damn, that's a win for someone. Don't we have some really good stuff in this shipment? If I got one of those, I'd take off on the spot!"
"Yeah, right. With your strength, giving it to you would just be putting golden trim on a chamber pot—flashy but pointless."
The Rocket grunts chattered nonstop, their snarky comments echoing around the corridor and giving Grey a bit to think about.
Good stock, huh?
What kind of good stock?
How good could it be?
That's what Grey was wondering.
But if you asked whether he was really that hyped about it, not particularly.
"Sir, this is the place!"
The little Rocket underling pulled open a set of doors and politely stepped aside.
Grey frowned. The instant the guy moved out of the way, he whipped an Ultra Ball forward!
"Zapdos, use Thunderbolt!"
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.