Team Rocket’s Second-in-Command!

Facing the short-haired woman in front of her, Aliana's expression grew tense.

"You're Team Rocket's Chief Secretary, Truebird."

While other criminal organizations had leaders who acted publicly, Team Rocket's true boss was an enigma. No one outside of Team Rocket's core members knew the leader's identity, despite endless speculation from outsiders.

In the public's eyes, Truebird—Giovanni's direct assistant—served as the de facto spokesperson and leader of Team Rocket.

Aliana hadn't expected to run into Truebird herself here.

Glancing around at the surrounding Rocket grunts closing in, Aliana demanded, "Mount Moon is huge. How did you manage to find us so quickly?"

This was the one thing she couldn't figure out.

She'd dispatched some of her men to create a diversion in Pewter City to draw away any attention, but somehow Team Rocket still found them with lightning speed.

It didn't make sense.

She turned to Truebird, hoping for an answer.

But Truebird merely adjusted her glasses, her face cold and expression unreadable as she gave a single command:

"Take them down."

In an instant, the Rocket grunts sprang into action.

Crobats, Weezings, and Arbok.

Each member deployed a Pokémon suited to the Team Rocket style, each one quickly choosing a target from the enemy ranks.

From the final-stage evolutions alone, it was clear that Team Rocket had sent their best.

In fact, these were indeed Rocket elites.

Each one belonged to Giovanni's personal guard.

And in this fight, Team Rocket not only had quality but quantity on their side.

They had an average of two Rocket operatives for every one Flare member.

Against such overwhelming numbers, the Flare agents stood no chance.

Within minutes, only Aliana remained standing.

As a Team Flare executive, Aliana's strength was nothing to scoff at—her Druddigon managed to hold its own against three opposing Pokémon without faltering.

"Do you really want to declare war on Team Flare? We're willing to negotiate."

For the first time, Truebird's icy expression softened slightly, almost as if she'd heard a particularly amusing joke.

"If an apology were enough, there'd be no need for police. Besides…weren't you the ones who trespassed on Team Rocket territory?"

Aliana's face hardened. "So there's no room for negotiation, then."

Abandoning all hope of diplomacy, Aliana took a deep breath and shouted, "Druddigon, use Dragon Claw!"

"Roooar!"

Druddigon roared, lashing out with its claws to swipe Crobat from the sky.

At the same time, Aliana released a second Pokémon.

"Mightyena, Thunder Fang!"

The newly-released Mightyena shot forward in a blur, aiming directly for Truebird with its fangs crackling with energy.

Aliana knew that if she wanted to escape, she'd have to take Truebird hostage to force the others to stand down.

Mightyena closed the distance quickly, its jaws glowing with a fierce red light as waves of scorching heat radiated from its form.

With its Dark typing, Mightyena's attack would normally counter Truebird's Psychic-type Xatu, leaving it defenseless.

But Aliana had overlooked one thing: she hadn't accounted for Truebird herself.

She was no easy target and wouldn't stand idle.

Just as Mightyena closed in, Truebird calmly pressed another Poké Ball on her belt.

Poof—!

With a burst of fragrance, an elegant Roserade appeared in front of Truebird.

"Dazzling Gleam."

A blinding white light flashed across the battlefield as Mightyena took the full force of Roserade's attack, howling in pain as it was thrown to the ground.

Roserade gave Mightyena no chance to recover.

With a wave of its arms, countless red and blue petals swirled around, forming a cyclone of razor-sharp petals that poured down upon Mightyena.

The flurry of petals hit their mark perfectly.

After only a brief whimper, Mightyena lay defeated, unable to fight.

"Petal Dance? How could you have such a powerful Roserade?"

Stunned, Aliana struggled to believe what she'd just seen.

Before coming, she'd reviewed all available information on Truebird. It described her as a "competent but mid-level administrator," with her strongest Pokémon being Xatu—no mention of a Roserade this strong.

Yet the Roserade standing before her was far beyond elite and seemed to rival her own Druddigon in strength.

Where on earth had Truebird acquired such a Pokémon?

"This little one?"

Truebird patted Roserade's head briefly, a faint memory of Luo Yuan's face crossing her mind, before looking back at Aliana.

"Losers don't get to ask questions."

With another flash of white light, this time aimed at Druddigon, the battle was over.

Druddigon, already surrounded, had nowhere to evade, and the Fairy-type Dazzling Gleam dealt a double-super-effective blow against the Dragon-type Pokémon, taking it down instantly.

With both of her main Pokémon defeated, Aliana's eyes grew dark and empty. She slumped, ceasing all resistance, as Rocket agents confiscated her Poké Balls and restrained her.

Truebird searched Aliana, retrieving the energy-storage device filled with Moon Stone power.

Turning to her operatives, she ordered:

"Clear the area quickly. The League could show up any time."

As her team worked to erase all traces of the battle and restore the forest to its natural state, Truebird pulled out her phone and sent a short message to Luo Yuan.

—

"We've secured the item and captured the intruders."

Luo Yuan received the message, a slight smile playing on his lips as he casually deleted the record.

Looking up, he watched Misty cuddling a Clefairy.

"So, you're keeping it?"

This Clefairy was one of the Pokémon they'd freed from the cage earlier. It had taken quite a liking to Misty and had been sticking close to her ever since.

"Yes!" Misty nodded enthusiastically.

Girls always seemed to have a soft spot for adorable Pokémon like Clefairy and Jigglypuff.

"This Clefairy seems to have good potential. If you train it well, it could become a real asset."

Following the energy surge from the Moon Stone, there were only two reasons a Clefairy wouldn't evolve.

One was a lack of energy, which this Clefairy didn't seem to suffer from. The other was due to natural resilience, with some Clefairy needing more energy before evolving.

With its bright eyes and lively spirit, this Clefairy appeared to be the latter.

"I'll do my best to train it."

Misty patted Clefairy's head, committing Luo Yuan's advice to memory.

"Then let's go. If we hurry, we'll still make it for the best moon-viewing time."

Luo Yuan smiled.

"Right!"

"Clefairy—!"

"Dree—!"

Clefairy and Dratini chimed in, eager to join them.

---

T/N: Oh right he constantly has dratini around his neck