Pokémon: My Titles Know No Limits! [206]

When he heard that he was supposed to show the newcomer the ropes, Silver’s first instinct was to refuse.

The guy looked reckless at a glance—no matter how he looked at it, teaming up with him seemed more likely to end in disaster than to be any help.

But Gold didn’t notice Silver’s reluctance at all. Grinning, he stepped closer and said, “You’re Silver, right? Guess we’re colleagues from now on! When we’ve got time, I’ll teach you how to play pool and cards~”

“Oh right—this is Otaro. Otaro, say hi to my coworker!”

Silver: “......”

Seeing how Gold acted, Silver had a feeling that his future career was going to be anything but peaceful.

Still, it couldn’t be helped—this was August’s assignment, so Silver had no choice but to grit his teeth and deal with it.

“Oh, almost forgot to add you to the group...” August pulled Gold into the group chat.

[Notification: ‘Gold’ has joined the ‘Task Force for Operations Against Team Rocket and the Masked Corps’]

Within seconds, Gary—who spent all day spamming the group chat 24/7—was the first to send a message.

[Beware of August’s Repeated Scams]:

[Welcome to the group, newcomer. Please read the following guidelines carefully.]

• Do not trust anything August says.

• Be wary of any temptations he offers.

• If you come across an offer too good to refuse, prepare for the worst.

[System Message: ‘Beware of August’s Repeated Scams’ has been muted by ‘Gardevoir Is the Best’]

[Jigglypuff Is the Cutest]: Gary, you’re antagonizing August again.

[Psychic Pretty Girl]: (lol)

[Silver]: moment of silence.jpg

[Gold]: What’s going on...? (confused)

[Gardevoir Is the Best]: That’s Gary. He’s been under a lot of stress lately, not quite in his right mind. He’ll be fine in a while.

[Gold]: (Enlightened)

…

After receiving their starter Pokémon, the matter in New Bark Town came to a temporary close.

Gold—ever lively—and Silver—completely expressionless—departed together.

According to August’s orders, the two were tasked with investigating the movements of low-ranking members of Team Rocket and the Masked Corps, and reporting back to him at any time.

“Those two…” Sabrina said with curiosity. “Can they really get along?”

Blue thought for a moment. “They probably can… Silver might look cold, but he’s actually pretty warm-hearted.”

August, on the other hand, was even more confident than Blue, not worried at all. “Trust me. They’ll make the perfect duo.”

No one was more suited to partner with Silver than Gold. With a bit of adjustment, the two of them would definitely achieve synergy greater than the sum of their parts.

“So, should we continue with the original plan?” Sabrina asked.

Per their earlier strategy, she was supposed to head to Goldenrod City to find Whitney of the Goldenrod Gym.

August nodded—then shook his head, confusing Sabrina even more. “We’ve got new intel from Gold. Our original plan needs some fine-tuning.”

“You mean Team Rocket gathering forces near Azalea Town?” Sabrina recalled the intel she’d seen.

As a former Team Rocket executive, she was well-acquainted with how the organization operated.

A deployment team being reassigned before completing their mission? There was only one explanation—

The new mission’s priority was very high.

Sabrina shared her conclusion with August.

August agreed. “Exactly. If Team Rocket’s shifting manpower like this, they must have discovered something the Masked Corps was trying to hide.”

Others might not know the secret, but August certainly did.

That shrine to the "Forest Guardian" Celebi hidden in Ilex Forest—that was Pryce’s greatest vulnerability.

Hearing this, Blue also recalled something from her time in the Masked Corps: every full moon, the Masked Man would enter a period of extreme weakness.

Looking back now, that weakness was very likely related to Celebi.

August continued, “Our mission is still to contact the Gym Leaders—but we need to move faster. We have to unite Johto’s Gym Leaders before the showdown between Team Rocket and the Masked Corps begins.”

---

Mahogany Gym

Pryce lay in a hospital bed, his body wrapped in bandages. Claiming he needed rest, he’d just sent away another group of League staff who’d come to check on him.

Once the room was empty, the kind-yet-weary expression he'd worn vanished from his face. His eyes turned cold, even a bit resentful.

“Team Rocket… Giovanni.”

To be honest, Pryce had always thought his disguise was flawless—until the attack on Mahogany Gym gave him quite the “surprise.”

He had never imagined a day would come when someone would come after him.

Not that being tracked down was unthinkable.

If Giovanni had found solid evidence, Pryce would’ve accepted it—he’d just assume he hadn’t hidden things well enough.

But the reason Giovanni attacked was laughably flimsy: “You and the Masked Man are both Ice-type specialists.”

What kind of logic was that?

Do you guys at Team Rocket not believe in evidence?

It left Pryce feeling like he’d swallowed a fly—completely disgusted.

Worse yet, Giovanni had demanded his son, saying, “Hand over Silver, and we’ll call a temporary truce with the Masked Corps to deal with the League.”

Sure, Pryce had kidnapped Silver once. But that was years ago.

Who knew where that brat had run off to now?

Seeing Giovanni’s expression at the time, Pryce knew: Giovanni was going to come at him with everything he had.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Pryce pushed down his anger.

No matter what, he had repelled Team Rocket’s attack. Though the cost was that the gym had been half-destroyed… now he had to pretend to be gravely injured to appease the League’s scrutiny.

“I have to speed up the plan.”

After years of research, he had finally identified the crucial element he’d been missing in his attempts to capture Celebi: the GS Ball.

He knew exactly who had the technique to create one—an old friend of his, Kurt. Getting the method wouldn’t be hard.

As for the required items—the Rainbow Wing and Silver Wing—Blue had taken them when she escaped with Silver.

Now, with Blue’s whereabouts unknown…

There was only one way to retrieve those feathers: capture Ho-Oh and Lugia again.

“Ho-Oh… Lugia… We’ll be meeting again soon, won’t we?”

Pryce’s eyes gleamed with determination.

Just as he was about to leave to begin his hunt for Ho-Oh and Lugia, his communicator lit up with a new message.

[Grunt]: Boss, Team Rocket is gathering troops for a large-scale search around Azalea Town. Awaiting orders.

Pryce’s expression froze.

…He’d been robbed of his home turf?

---

This is a fan translation of 人在实教，一之濑你会后悔的 by 作者：白良. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!