"Achoo!"
On the way to Celadon Gym, Grey suddenly sneezed for no reason.
"Meow?" (Did you catch a cold?)
Riolu padded up beside him, asking anxiously.
"I'm fine. Probably just someone thinking about me."
Grey shook his head and kept following after Erika.
Silver and Green had already split off—one heading to the Celadon Game Corner as bait, the other going for a genuine day of shopping.
Celadon Gym was just ahead. Erika slid the door open, leaving it half-closed as she motioned for Grey to hurry inside.
Once she was sure there were no Team Rocket lookouts in sight, Grey slipped in after her and stepped into Celadon Gym.
The moment he crossed the threshold, a wave of perfume hit him.
Flowers and greenery filled every corner of the place, lush and overflowing, like stepping straight into the heart of nature.
The air quality wasn't bad either—actually a fair bit better than Saffron City had been.
Well, what else would you expect from a Grass-type specialist's Gym? The environment here really was built one-to-one with their theme.
By comparison, the Fighting Dojo back home felt a bit… plain.
Yeah, once he expanded it someday, he was going to have to put some effort into aesthetics.
Make it all about style.
While Grey was mulling that over, Erika spoke.
"Gym Leader Grey, please allow this little lady to formally introduce herself again."
She set one hand lightly at the collar of her kimono, turned to face him, and met his gaze.
"This little lady is Erika, Gym Leader of Celadon Gym. The reason I invited you to Celadon City is to wipe out the Team Rocket members hiding inside the Celadon Game Corner."
"Yeah, Daisy already filled me in on that. Besides you and me, did you call anyone else in to help?"
Grey nodded, then tossed the question back to Erika.
If it was just the two of them, they'd have to be very well prepared.
Unlike last time, when having Sabrina and Lorelei around had maxed out his sense of security.
Compared to those two, Erika was, frankly, a bit of a "burden."
She was solidly at standard Gym Leader level; she could go head-to-head with a Team Rocket executive for a while.
But in a drawn-out fight? That was another story.
Even with Riolu at his side, Grey still didn't feel completely at ease.
After all, who knew how many people might pop out of nowhere.
If all four executives showed up at once, even he'd be in for a rough time.
Of course, actually catching this batch of Team Rocket grunts wasn't the problem.
The real issue was that if he went all out, Grey figured his destructive power wasn't much different from Sabrina's.
How to arrest these Rocket members while keeping civilians safe—that was the real question on the table right now.
"Other than you and Sabrina, this little lady hasn't called in anyone from outside Celadon City."
Erika smoothed a loose lock of hair back behind her ear, a faintly apologetic smile appearing on her face.
Grey frowned and asked, "All right… so how much do you actually know about the Rocket base? This isn't the kind of thing you can solve with sheer enthusiasm. We need a thorough plan."
After crossing swords with Team Rocket so many times, Grey had a decent feel for just how ruthless that organization could be.
They genuinely didn't care about civilians.
Mutually destructive tactics, massive explosions, all kinds of wide-area, suicidal moves—those were practically their signature. The whole idea was "hurt the enemy a thousand, lose eight hundred yourself."
Cruel to others, crueler to themselves.
In a place like the Celadon Game Corner, if Giovanni decided to cut his losses, that was no joke.
He could easily have already planted Pokémon like Electrode and Golem around the place, just waiting for the right moment.
And then—boom—anyone who showed up to raid the base would be blown to smithereens.
"As for those concerns, Gym Leader Grey, you need not worry."
Erika bowed slightly, the sleeves of her kimono hanging low. "All related preparations are complete. Please come with me to the conference room—this little lady will let you look over the files we've collected."
With that, Erika led the way, guiding Grey through a corridor lined with flowers.
In front of the conference room deep within the Gym, two potted bonsai pines stood on either side of the door like a pair of sentries.
Erika slid the door open and stepped inside.
Once she had Grey seated, she laid a handful of pages covered in handwritten notes down in front of him.
"These are the pieces of information we've gathered over the past few days. Judging from how brazen Team Rocket's been here, there are definitely going to be multiple executive-level figures involved."
Erika sank back in her office chair, rubbing at her aching brow as she spoke in a low voice. "So, my proposal is that we split into two teams. What do you think, Gym Leader Grey?"
Rustle, rustle…
Grey didn't answer immediately. The only sound in the room was the whisper of paper as he flipped through the pages.
His eyes swept quickly over the intel, and his brows slowly drew together.
Erika didn't rush him; she just watched him quietly.
"At least two executives on the field, huh… Gym Leader Erika, don't you think you might be overestimating me a little?"
Grey slid the stack of notes back toward her and couldn't help making a remark.
Leaving aside the fact that he was the outsider here—
They were planning to fight on Team Rocket's home turf.
Wasn't that like walking right into the tiger's den?
"No offense, but Gym Leader Erika, you're being a little… how do I put it… adorably naive."
After thinking it over, Grey finally settled on that high-EQ phrasing.
If you put it less nicely, the word would've been "airhead."
Click.
The door slid open.
Three Celadon Gym apprentices stepped in.
All three were fair-skinned, long-legged, and undeniably beautiful.
Naturally, Grey's attention wasn't on the girls.
It was on the briefcases they were carrying.
"Miss Erika, what's… this?"
Grey swallowed twice. His finely tuned sense for such things was already smelling the scent of money.
"Gym Leader Grey, your strength is terrifying. Working together with Gym Leader Sabrina, you managed to arrest three of the four Team Rocket executives in one stroke. This little lady admires you greatly."
Erika clapped her hands, and the three girls set the briefcases in front of Grey and flipped them open.
As expected—nothing but stacks of League credits.
"There's a total of three million in here. Just a small token of appreciation from this little lady, nothing more. I wonder… would this be enough to make Gym Leader Grey the least bit satisfied?"
Her pale hand rested atop the cases as she pushed them toward him.
"Gym Leader Erika, I came this time to arrest Team Rocket."
"As for this money… you should take it back."
Grey shook his head and pushed the cases back. "I haven't done anything yet, so I can't accept payment. Getting that much up front would honestly make me a little nervous."
"As expected, you're just like Miss Daisy said you'd be."
Seeing Grey politely turn down her good will, Erika didn't get angry. Instead, she took out three small, exquisitely crafted boxes and set them in front of him.
"This little lady has been a bit presumptuous today. If I've put you in a difficult position, I beg your pardon. Since Gym Leader Grey has no interest in money, how about this—please accept these bottles of perfume that I personally blended as a welcome gift?"
"Well, in that case… it'd be rude of me to refuse."
Compared to a pile of cash, a few little trinkets like this were easy enough for Grey to accept.
It wasn't like these could possibly be worth more than three million, right?
Ding-dong～
A notification popped up with the chime.
Grey glanced at the screen, and one eyebrow arched.
[Silver: Gym Leader! I've found the entrance to the secret base!]
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