"He really did hold back when he fought Ash..."
"Yeah, the power of that Aura Sphere..."
Not everything is stronger just because it's bigger, but being able to form an Aura Sphere that large definitely means she's not weak.
"By the way, what's this 500,000 about? Did Team Rocket just steal your money, Mr. Rowan?"
"It's nothing, just our local policy.
Illumina is different from your side — organizations like Team Rocket can't really operate here. If someone actually catches them, the reward is pretty good."
"I see. Then you don't have to worry, Mr. Rowan. There's no way those guys have some big boss. They haven't even managed to catch Pikachu after all this time — if I were their boss, I'd have fired them ages ago."
In a way, Misty and the others do understand Team Rocket — but not quite deeply enough.
Even though Team Rocket had already flown off, their robot was still left behind. Judging by the wreckage, it looked like it was made out of junkyard scraps.
Assuming they arrived in Illumina around the same time as Ash, then in just a single day, these people not only completed their "initial capital accumulation" through efficient temporary jobs, they also cobbled together a "Gundam" out of garbage and spare parts.
With this kind of skill, if they weren't stuck on the front lines, they could be incredibly effective in other ways.
"Meow... (Did I mess up by blasting them off?)"
"It's fine. When I called the police earlier, Officer Jenny said there had already been several reports.
Even if there's a reward, we probably wouldn't get much of it anyway, so it's not a big deal.
But next time we're dealing with people like that, wait for my command. If their bodies weren't so tough, things could've gone badly."
Rowan wasn't quite sure how to compare a Pokémon's age to a human's, but Nekomi was definitely young — emotional at times, but always quick to adjust.
The police led by Officer Jenny were no different from those police in Hong Kong movies — showing up late after everything was already over.
The fire department also arrived after the smoke had cleared, beginning to check for any hidden fire sources.
As the person who reported the incident, Rowan started answering some of Jenny's questions about Team Rocket.
Ash and Pikachu, meanwhile, showed up even later.
When the smoke first started rising, Ash and Nurse Joy had been inside the Pokémon Center helping move the injured Pokémon, which is why they hadn't come out until now.
From the looks of it, Team Rocket had probably just suffered their biggest setback yet—they didn't even catch a glimpse of Pikachu before getting blasted off.
In a world where people have Pokémon, a lot of things work very differently. Officer Jenny just glanced at the Trainer license Rowan had freshly registered, then called off her team and left to start tracking down Team Rocket's whereabouts.
If this had been somewhere else, he probably would've had to go back to the station and give a statement at the very least.
Footage of the mecha attacking the Pokémon Center had already started spreading online. They needed to figure out how long this foreign organization had been hiding and what exactly their objective was.
Indeed, Illumina's Officer Jenny didn't believe for a second that these people had chased Ash all the way from Kanto just for one Pikachu.
Nor did she buy that two people and a single Pokémon could build that kind of machine out of scrap.
In the end, she treated it as a major case and began investigating, intending to dig out everything that Team Rocket had done in Illumina.
To that end, she had already begun tapping into her network and reaching out to the Jennys in the Kanto region to learn more about Team Rocket.
As for how things would unfold next, Rowan and the others didn't know. What they did know was that Ash and his group were now facing a bit of trouble.
The surprise attack by Team Rocket had caused some problems at the Pokémon Center, and the dormitories meant for visiting Trainers were temporarily out of service. They'd have to find someplace else to stay.
Ash and the gang didn't plan to go looking for a hotel, though. They were thinking of finding a good spot to camp instead—and even invited Rowan to join them.
But Rowan decisively declined. It was June—no matter where you went, camping just meant feeding the mosquitoes.
Why on earth would he go camping when he had a perfectly comfy air-conditioned room? He'd have to be crazy.
"Mr. Rowan, next time I'll definitely win!"
"Next time?"
"Yeah! I only brought Pikachu with me this time, but if we get the chance later, let's have a real 6-vs-6 battle!"
The loss didn't get Ash down—instead, it made him look forward to their next match even more. If this were a game, Rowan would've just earned himself the "Rival" tag.
Ash would keep working hard, improving, and aiming to defeat him one day.
"6-vs-6, huh... You're traveling with only Pikachu, but I've only got Nekomi. We'll see when the time comes. I'm looking forward to it too."
"Yeah."
The two of them shook hands, sealing the promise. After that, Rowan started working on his Pokéblock plan.
Though honestly, he could've just pulled out the goods and walked over to Brock, saying:
"I've got some top-quality Pokéblocks right here. Want some?"
That approach wasn't really suitable. After doing the math, Rowan had already realized that getting rich through Pokéblocks just wasn't realistic given his current production capacity.
Theoretically, that route would only earn him some hard-earned cash, and after factoring in costs and unexpected variables, it wouldn't be much different from just selling Berries directly.
So Rowan's goal had shifted—from simply finding customers to expanding his network. Being too upfront about it wouldn't be good.
Originally, Rowan had tweaked the Pokéblock recipe to make its aroma stronger, intending to attract their Pokémon while Nekomi was eating.
But before the plan even started, a Poké Ball on Misty's belt suddenly popped open, and a Psyduck jumped out.
A completely yellow duck with three tufts of hair on its head sat there holding its head, a vacant look in its eyes, as if it hadn't figured out why it was here.
Compared to an ordinary Psyduck, Misty's was a bit more... unique.
It was as dazed as a Slowpoke, and ironically, it couldn't swim despite being a duck.
That said, this Psyduck had extremely strong psychic powers—once it entered "that state," it could unleash powerful psychic powers.
"Psyduck! Who told you to come out?! Get back here right now!"
A red beam shot out from the Poké Ball, but Psyduck just so happened to slip at that exact moment and dodged the beam perfectly. It flailed around on the ground a bit, then clumsily crawled over to Rowan's side.
Psyduck had caught a whiff of something delicious coming from Rowan's backpack, which seemed to trigger its foraging instincts.
Unfortunately, Psyduck's movements weren't very coordinated. No matter how hard it jumped, it couldn't reach Rowan's backpack, and could only fret anxiously in place.
"Psyduck! You're causing trouble for other people again—get back here, now!"
This time, Psyduck didn't dodge the light released by the Poké Ball, but even so, Psyduck was particularly determined. The moment Misty recalled it, Psyduck immediately jumped out again on its own.
"Um… Mr. Rowan, what do you have in your bag? Could you maybe sell us a bit of it?"
"No need for money—it's just something I made myself. Want to try some?"
Rowan opened his backpack and took out a glass jar and a few Pokéblocks that had scattered outside...