"Hurry up and lock down this area!"
In less than half an hour, Officer Jenny of Celadon City had gathered her team and sealed off the entire Game Corner. At the same time, the Kanto League Headquarters dispatched two Elite Four members—Lance and Lorelei.
Coincidentally, both of them had been investigating Team Rocket's whereabouts in nearby towns.
"Lord Lance! Lady Lorelei! Please be careful!"
"Don't worry, leave it to us!"
Meanwhile, Eevee and Cynthia were comfortably seated in a hotel across from the Game Corner, enjoying their meal while watching the League operatives raid the underground Team Rocket base.
Before long, squads of League personnel began escorting groups of unconscious Team Rocket members out of the building. These people were clearly still knocked out, without even the chance to resist.
Among them were Athena and a scientist named Dr. Nancy, both captured without a hitch.
Lance was left utterly baffled. "Who the heck took care of all this?"
With a face full of confusion, he turned to Lorelei for answers. "Do you have any idea who did this?"
"How should I know? We entered together, didn't we?" Lorelei rolled her eyes. "But whoever did it must have an extremely powerful Psychic-type Pokémon!"
She and Lance had both noticed that almost everyone in the base had been put to sleep simultaneously. That alone spoke volumes about the strength of the culprit.
Lance nodded in agreement. "That would require a Champion-level Pokémon. And not just any Champion-level Psychic-type—it would have to be an exceptionally strong one!"
After all, even Athena, a high-ranking Team Rocket executive, had been taken down by the same method.
Lorelei crossed her arms. "Exactly. But I've never heard of such a powerful Psychic-type Pokémon in this area."
Both of them were left with more questions than answers.
"Well, once Athena and the others wake up, we can just ask them directly," Lorelei shrugged.
"True," Lance admitted, but he frowned. "Still, the fact that someone went to the trouble of taking down this base, erased all traces of their involvement, and then quietly tipped off Officer Jenny and the League... It makes me think they wouldn't be careless enough to leave behind such an obvious clue."
"Which means... our trail probably ends here."
Lorelei sighed, spreading her hands in resignation. "Looks like it."
With no better way to track down the mysterious helper, the two Elite Four members focused on safely escorting Athena, Dr. Nancy, and the other captured Rocket members to League Headquarters.
After all, these two weren't just any grunts—one was a high-ranking executive, and the other was an important researcher. There was no way Team Rocket would let this slide easily.
"Alright, show's over. Are we heading back now?"
Having finished their meal and watched the whole spectacle, Eevee turned to Cynthia.
"Of course not! We're just getting started with our Kanto adventure! How could we leave so soon?" Cynthia playfully flicked Eevee's forehead.
Sure, she came to Kanto mostly to accompany Eevee, but now that she was here, she couldn't just leave without winning a League Championship. How else could she face her grandmother?
"Besides, I need to check in on Sabrina from time to time! Might as well stay and compete in the Kanto League!"
She grinned, clearly excited. "And this is a great chance to capture some interesting Pokémon along the way!"
Then, as if remembering something, she turned to Eevee with a hopeful look. "By the way, there were some Pokémon among the loot we collected from Team Rocket, right? Can I pick one or two?"
All of those had been stored away by Eevee.
"Let's book a place with a yard first," Eevee suggested. "This hotel isn't the best spot."
"Good idea! Let's go!"
With that, Cynthia quickly recalled her Garchomp and the rest of her Pokémon, then rented a small house with a yard at the Pokémon Center.
Eevee then retrieved a pile of Poké Balls from its spatial wristband.
In the Pokémon world, while space backpacks were common, higher-end accessories like space wristbands and rings also existed. These were advanced applications of pocket dimension technology.
However, unlike the ones in some worlds, these wristbands didn't have time-stopping effects.
"Oh wow! There's a Dratini! A pseudo-legendary from Kanto!"
Cynthia's eyes lit up as she noticed one of the Poké Balls contained a Dratini.
"This is perfect! If I train it well, it could become a main fighter in my secondary team!"
She knelt down, gently patting the small dragon's head after a brief moment of communication.
Dratini let out a soft cry, enjoying Cynthia's gentle touch.
However, despite the affection, it still looked weak and a little malnourished.
"It's possible, but..."
Eevee nodded. "Dragonite is pretty strong when trained properly! But this one has average potential and hasn't been raised well. We'll need to put in some extra effort to make up for it. Hopefully, it won't get too fat."
Cynthia nodded in agreement but then paused, confused by Eevee's wording. "Wait… why are you calling Dratini 'Dragonite'? It's not even evolved yet, and it's not fat at all!"
Dratini cried out in protest, clearly upset.
'I'm obviously slim and elegant!' it thought to itself.
Clearly, this Dratini was female.
Eevee shrugged. "Dratini and Dragonair are slim, sure, but once they evolve into Dragonite, the design takes a weird turn, doesn't it? You can't tell me Dragonite isn't chunky."
"Still, chubby or not, Dragonite is kind of adorable in its own way!"
It was officially depressed now.
'Maybe... I just won't evolve into Dragonite?' Dratini seriously started considering this option.
"Pfft… Eevee, that's too much! You can't just call Dratini fat like that!"
Cynthia, noticing Dratini's emotional shift, looked at Eevee helplessly.
That was a little too harsh on Dragonite, wasn't it?
Dragonite was actually pretty cool!
Now that she thought about it, Eevee had said something similar about Garchomp before.
Something along the lines of: "Garchomp looks badass, but… also kinda ugly."
Or, in Eevee's words—ugly in a 'unique' way.
"I'm just telling the truth!"
Eevee spread its paws, looking completely innocent. "I mean, are you seriously telling me Dragonair evolving into Dragonite doesn't feel like a massive style shift? Dratini to Dragonair looks super elegant, and then… boom! Big orange dragon."
"Haha… still, you shouldn't say it like that!"
Cynthia ruffled Eevee's fur playfully.
"Mi!" (I've made up my mind—I'll evolve into Dragonair and stop there!)
Dratini declared with determination.
She felt conversation was taking a strange turn.
Without dragging things out any further, she returned Dratini to its Poké Ball and took out another one.
"Whoa! A Ralts? It's a Psychic-type—so cute!"
The moment Ralts appeared, Cynthia's eyes sparkled.
She immediately tried using her own weak Psychic abilities to communicate with it.
She even pulled Eevee in to help soothe the poor Ralts, who looked exhausted and terrified.
It was obvious it had suffered a lot in Team Rocket's hands.
Ralts naturally had a timid personality, so its time in captivity must have been awful.
"I've decided! I'm keeping this Ralts too!"
"As for the rest, I'll send them back home and let Grandma take care of them! Our family's backyard is huge anyway!"
"There are quite a few Pokémon unique to Kanto in here—I'm sure Grandma will love them! What do you think, Eevee?"
Cynthia turned to look at Eevee.
She noticed Eevee staring intently at Ralts with an unreadable expression.
"Ah?... Oh! Yeah, that's fine! Whatever you decide is good. There's no way we can carry all of them with us anyway—there are like, dozens!"
Eevee snapped out of its thoughts and quickly responded as if nothing had happened, putting on a completely serious face.
This was already after they had filtered through the Pokémon they had taken from Team Rocket.
Eevee had only kept the rare and valuable ones.
Things like Caterpie, Weedle, and Rattata? Nope—not a single one.
Those were left behind for the League investigators who came afterward.
Though, realistically, those common Pokémon would probably just be released back into the wild.
Of course, before that, they would undergo psychological care to help them recover from their trauma.