"Found it… Down there is Team Rocket's base in Viridian Forest."

In the dimly lit, foul-smelling underground cave, Sato whispered to the three people beside him.

"Boss, so what do we do next…?" Mark asked, frowning and covering his mouth, clearly already sick of being there.

"Dig a hole and jump straight in. take down everyone inside."

"Sounds good, sounds good!"

Mark nodded quickly and, without even thinking, actually prepared to send out his Pokémon to start digging.

…Smack!

"Ow! Boss, why'd you hit me?!"

Mark held his head, lips pouting, looking both confused and wronged.

"Rescuing comes first. Rushing in might alert them."

Bruno didn't realize that Sato just wanted to smack the goofy Mark… and instead offered a very serious explanation. That only made things more awkward for Sato.

Joseph smiled silently from the side and simply sent out Comfey, who used Flower Shield.

Red, white, yellow, and pink blossoms scattered gently through the air, and under the astonished gaze of the others, the cave's air suddenly cleared, becoming fresh and breathable.

"Woah~ Hhh… haaah… Flower Shield can be used like that!?"

Mark had already forgotten why Sato smacked his head just now… his eyes were wide as he stared at Comfey, taking two deep breaths of the freshened air.

"You're about to become an Elite Four candidate soon. Stop blurting out dumb things without thinking. Good luck runs out eventually."

Joseph looked at Mark with the tone of a senpai lecturing a kouhai.

"Heheheh, that's why I've got you and Boss with me~ I don't need to think at all!" Mark chuckled sheepishly, though that proud tone at the end was hard to miss.

"Gegege~"

Just then, Sato's Gengar suddenly popped out from beneath their feet and then pointed in a specific direction.

"Trish has been found!" Sato exclaimed happily, then double-checked just to be sure.

"Gen!"

Gengar nodded with full confidence!

…But then its ghostly face shifted into a hesitant expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Gegege~ Gengen…"

"Boss, what's your Gengar saying?"

"Amber's been found too, but it looks like something's wrong. We need to move… NOW!"

"Ah! Let's go… Wait, how do we even get over there?" Mark lifted his leg but realized they couldn't get through the tunnel at all, and awkwardly lowered it again.

"Gen~"

Gengar pointed down at the ground, indicating there were no grunts nearby; it was a good spot to drop in.

"Alright, we'll go down from here!"

Soon, the four officially infiltrated Team Rocket's underground base, completely undetected thanks to Gengar's Spatial Barrier.

"Gengar, lead the way."

"Gen~"

Along the way, they barely encountered any Team Rocket members. Even the ones they did see were rushing about in a hurry, clearly preoccupied.

"Is something going wrong inside Team Rocket too?" Bruno asked, puzzled.

Such a large base, and yet so few patrolling grunts?

"Most likely Lance has already been exposed. He's probably drawing away a lot of their forces. We need to move faster!" Joseph immediately thought of the most likely reason.

"Mhm. Gengar, speed up."

Sato nodded, and the three of them broke into a run. Though they still didn't see anyone, their footsteps now echoed loudly through the base.

Not long after, the group of four arrived at the place where Amber was being held…

"Gengar, is Trish being kept far from here?"

Now that Gengar had located them, Sato didn't immediately rush forward to break down the door and rescue them; he was worried that it might alert the enemy. It would be best if he could rescue both at once.

Fortunately, Gengar quickly shook its head and pointed to another nearby room.

"I'll go there. I'm leaving this side to you guys."

Sato spoke decisively. After checking that no one was around, he stepped out of the Spatial Barrier alone and ran toward the room where Trish was held.

"Zoroark."

A flash of red light, and Zoroark appeared at Sato's side.

Dee-woo~ Dee-woo~ Dee-woo~

The next second, alarms suddenly blared across the entire base. Sato only glanced at a corner surveillance camera before ignoring it.

They had already found Trish and Amber, getting out wouldn't be a problem.

"Trish, are you in there?"

Soon, Sato arrived at the door and began calling out.

"S-Sato…? Is that y-you?!"

"Mhm. Stay away from the door. I'm breaking it!"

"O-Okay…" From inside, Trish's voice was already tinged with tears.

Miyamoto's words still echoed in her ears. That torturous anticipation of suffering was worse than the suffering itself!

"Zoroark, Night Daze."

"Zoro!"

Zoroark leapt lightly to the front of the steel door, rested its right hand on it, and then unleashed Night Daze.

BOOOM!

BOOOOM…

Explosions echoed from the other side as well; Bruno had sent out Hitmonchan and blasted open the door directly.

"S-SATOO!"

Without caring about the still-smoking door, Trish rushed out and threw herself into Sato's arms the moment she saw him.

"UWAHHH… I thought… I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE… UWAHHH…"

All the emotions Trish had been bottling up over the past days exploded at once. She sobbed like a storm of falling petals.

Sato was just about to comfort her when she suddenly pulled away and grabbed him urgently!

"Where's Amber? Sato… WHERE'S AMBER!? Did you save him too?"

Sato raised his right hand, still in midair, and pointed toward the place where Amber was held. Trish followed his gesture and just happened to see Mark carrying the heavily injured Amber on his back.

"A-AMBER!"

Sato and Trish quickly ran over. The former's heart burned with rage, while the latter stumbled in fear.

"Comfey~"

Comfey was using its unique Floral Healing move to treat Amber.

One by one, little flowers floated onto Amber's body, and the black-red scabbed wounds began healing at a visible rate.

Though Floral Healing and Heal Pulse had similar effects, the former was clearly better for external wounds, while the latter worked best for internal injuries.

Only then did they begin to hear hurried footsteps approaching; Team Rocket's counterforce had finally arrived.

"Perfect timing. We still haven't recovered Trish and Amber's Poké Balls."

Sato looked at the incoming Team Rocket members and gave the command without hesitation.

"Night Daze."

"Zoro!"

Zoroark charged forward fearlessly, unleashing a full-powered Night Daze centered on itself, instantly clearing out all the grunts.

At that moment, the leader stationed at Team Rocket's Base A3 slowly stepped forward, face grim…

"Truly… enemies are bound to cross paths, Kaiser!"

Bruno stepped up immediately, his surging battle intent entirely undisguised!

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150 PS - CH