With her parents accompanying her, Sabrina saw Cynthia and Eevee off at the door.
Hugging Eevee tightly around the neck, Sabrina asked with a hint of reluctance, "Do you really have to leave so soon? Can't you stay just a few more days?"
She had only just regained her human emotions after years of being suppressed by overwhelming psychic power.
Yesterday was the first time in forever that she had felt so much emotion, and even now, she was still feeling it intensely.
Eevee wasn't just her savior; there was something different, something truly special about him. Sabrina could tell—this was no ordinary Pokémon.
In fact, he might just be the most unique Pokémon she had ever encountered.
So she wanted to stay by Eevee's side. Cynthia, too, had become a close friend in just a single day, making parting even harder for Sabrina.
If she were a little older, she would have joined them on their journey without hesitation.
"Heh, heh," Eevee chuckled, gently patting Sabrina's head with his paw. "Don't worry! I really do have something important to take care of. But Cynthia and I already promised—we'll come back to visit when we're done, right, Cynthia?"
"Of course!" Cynthia quickly nodded in agreement, picking up on Eevee's cue.
"Alright then, it's a deal! You have to come back! See you soon!" Sabrina waved enthusiastically.
"See you!" Cynthia and Eevee waved back before hopping onto Garchomp, heading straight for Celadon City.
That was the last place where the special three-form Eevee had disappeared, and that's where Eevee Renzo planned to begin his search.
After more than a full day of travel, with several rest stops along the way, they finally arrived at Celadon City.
As soon as they got off the air transport, Cynthia turned to Eevee. "So, where do we start looking?"
She was completely unfamiliar with this city. This search was entirely up to Eevee.
"Give me a second, I'll check." Eevee closed his eyes and expanded his psychic detection field, instantly covering most of Celadon City.
One area at a time, he started scanning for any signs.
At the very moment Eevee unleashed his psychic detection, several powerful Pokémon across Celadon City—those at least at the Elite Four level—were startled, turning their heads in his direction.
However, once they realized it was merely a psychic scan, they quickly lost interest.
Of course, the fact that this unknown Psychic-type Pokémon was incredibly strong also played a part. Any Pokémon capable of using psychic detection on such a massive scale had to be at least Champion-level.
Meanwhile, their trainers, noticing their Pokémon's reactions, began asking them what had happened.
Deep underground, beneath the Celadon City Game Corner, inside Team Rocket's secret base...
Team Rocket Executive Athena frowned as she listened to her Golbat. "What? A powerful Psychic-type Pokémon is scanning Celadon City?"
"What's going on? Can you determine what kind of Pokémon it is? Where is it located? What's its estimated power level?"
Athena was on high alert.
Their current experiment was at a critical stage, and she was responsible for ensuring this base's security.
Not long ago, another Team Rocket base in a nearby city had been completely wiped out by the Pokémon League.
Fortunately, key personnel had managed to escape, bringing along crucial research data and relocating it to this base.
Unfortunately, their greatest success—the three-form Eevee—had also escaped during the chaos.
However, as if luck had been on Athena's side, that very same Eevee had somehow ended up near Celadon City, where a trainer had found it and taken it to a Pokémon Center.
Athena had seized the opportunity.
She had agents capture the Eevee in secret when it left the Pokémon Center.
Now, that Eevee was undergoing further experiments here in this very facility.
Giovanni himself had ordered them to extract as much data as possible.
Failure was not an option.
Back aboveground, Eevee's scan yielded no results in the rest of Celadon City.
"That only leaves one last place—the underground base beneath the Game Corner," Eevee muttered to himself.
"If I can't find it there, then I'll have to expand the search to the outskirts... but that would take much longer."
He wasn't completely certain that the Eevee was underground. The base seemed to have some sort of psychic interference device that blocked his mental scan.
"Hmph, typical Team Rocket. Always hoarding useful tech. I think I'll take this one for myself!" Eevee smirked internally.
Retracting his psychic detection, he turned to Cynthia. "There's nothing in the rest of the city—only one place left to check. But it's protected by a psychic interference field, so I'll have to go in myself."
"Are you coming with me, or do you want to wait at the Pokémon Center?" Eevee asked.
Truthfully, Eevee wanted Cynthia to stay at the Pokémon Center, but they had made a deal before: Eevee wasn't allowed to ditch her and take risks alone.
This time, Eevee was being smarter about it and didn't directly tell her to stay behind.
"Where exactly are we going? It sounds dangerous," Cynthia asked, immediately catching on.
Eevee nodded. "It's a secret underground Rocket Team base. The Game Corner on top is just a front."
"Hah! The Rocket Team in Kanto is really bold, huh? I'm going with you! Don't even think about leaving me behind—I can help!" Cynthia declared, clenching her fists.
All this time, Eevee had been helping her, and now that things were getting serious, she wanted to do something for Eevee in return.
Even though her Garchomp was only at the peak of pre-Elite status, she carried two of her grandmother's Champion-level Pokémon with her at all times.
At the very least, she could protect herself.
"I knew you'd say that! Alright, let's go together. But stay close to me and be careful."
Eevee chuckled, shaking its head before hailing a taxi with Cynthia. Soon, they arrived at the Celadon City Game Corner.
"Should we just walk in, or disguise ourselves first?" Cynthia asked.
"No need for disguises. I'll handle the guards directly."
With that, Eevee led the way inside.
"Welcome! Would you like to play some games? Or exchange coins for prizes?" a friendly staff member greeted them.
If Eevee didn't already know what kind of people they were, it would've been hard to tell they were Rocket Team members. They were playing their roles a little too well.
Eevee's eyes glowed with psychic power, and the employee was immediately put under its control.
"Take us to the entrance of the underground base."
The staff member obediently led Cynthia and Eevee down a back hallway.
Along the way, a few Rocket Team grunts disguised as security guards noticed something was off and moved to intervene, but Eevee effortlessly put them under control as well.
Even the Pokémon in their Poké Balls weren't spared.
A group of weaklings like them was no match for an Espeon's overwhelming psychic power. Not even while inside their Poké Balls.
Eevee hadn't wasted its time these past months. It had studied Poké Ball mechanics thoroughly.
Eevee was already considering changing his name to 'Eevee the Genius.'
Just like that, Eevee led Cynthia straight to the entrance of the underground base.
But there was one problem—there was a locked security door that required a password.
"Red Queen, can you hack this electronic lock?" Eevee asked, glancing down at the sleek, silver bracelet on its right paw.
Cynthia wasn't even surprised at this point.
"One second, no problem at all!" Red Queen's voice came from the bracelet.
A moment later, a beep sounded, and the lock disengaged. The door slid open automatically.
"Now, infiltrate their network and copy all their data. Let's take everything they've got."
Eevee used its psychic power to put the guards inside into a deep sleep before confidently stepping into the underground base with Cynthia.
"Piece of cake!" Red Queen responded. "Oh, by the way, while scanning their network, I found something interesting. You and Mistress Cynthia might want to take a look."
"M-Mistress?!" Cynthia's face immediately turned red as she waved her fists in protest. "Red Queen, don't say embarrassing things like that!"
What if someone misunderstood and thought she was with Eevee?
Sure, she did think Eevee was super cool. She had even caught herself admiring it many times before.
But rumors like that? She wasn't ready for that kind of attention!
It's not like she could ever have anything romantic with a Pokémon. How would that even be possible? She didn't even have the idea.