Reiji picked up the backpack on the ground and opened it. It was full of ore—looks like the guy had used the chaos at the mine to grab a haul, then had his Nidoqueen Dig its way out.
As for everyone else, they probably weren't so lucky. Crushed to death, drowned… and anyone whose Pokémon couldn't Dig would've been buried alive.
After Reiji finished dealing with the big man in black and confiscated all of his Pokémon, Darkrai and Gengar also returned.
"The fighting in the rock cavern is still going. It's brutal—lots of humans are dead. We took a lot of valuables from the base in the confusion, but the backpack I saw in Viper's tent is gone this time, and even the warehouse is empty."
"That human must've prepared something in advance. We only managed to take other people's packs and whatever hadn't been moved yet. After that, Gengar picked a lot of backpacks off the bodies…"
"And it wasn't just us. The attackers who tunneled into the black market base were looting too. Everyone's gone crazy—anyone who gets something immediately has their Pokémon Dig them out of the battlefield…"
Reiji drew a slow breath. This was the "opportunity" he'd meant. If it got chaotic enough, nobody would suspect him. He could raid their bases and vanish in the same night—two birds with one stone.
"The messier it gets, the better. If it's chaotic enough, no one will notice you stealing. Everyone's looting—missing things are normal."
If he wanted others to believe he'd disappeared tonight… or even died, that wasn't hard. He had a witness. Tai could "prove" he'd fallen into the water and gone missing. A perfect hit-and-run plan.
No suspicion, everything he wanted in hand, and his disappearance would look completely natural.
"Let's go. We'll hit the Storm Gang next. You two go first—I'll be right behind you." Reiji smiled and told Darkrai to take Gengar ahead, preparing to lift whatever they could from the Storm Gang base.
"Oh, right—Gengar, eat this too." Before Gengar left, Reiji handed it the big man's backpack to stash in its dimensional pocket.
"Geng-gar." Gengar stuck out its tongue. Backpacks weren't tasty. It had already swallowed at least twenty or thirty spatial backpacks tonight.
"Hang in there. Once we're done with this job, I'll buy you something good." Reiji patted it to calm it down. The plan had gone this smoothly largely because of Gengar.
He couldn't call Gengar "useless" anymore. If they made a killing tonight, Gengar was the biggest contributor.
If the Poison Gang had planned to play along and Team Rocket had prepared for this, it wasn't strange that they missed the best stuff. But the Storm Gang and Rock Gang were fighting on home turf, and they were the ones surrounding the Poison Gang—there was no reason they'd have prepared their bases.
The only question was where those two bosses hid their private stashes. Darkrai and Gengar could feel around until they found them.
"I'll take Gengar over first," Darkrai said, then slipped into the shadows with Gengar and headed for the Storm Gang base.
Reiji watched them go, then recalled Croagunk, Kingler, and Scyther. He kept only Poliwhirl, along with Spinarak and Ditto, and headed straight for Storm Gang territory.
On the way, he saw many masked people fleeing from the other direction. Word had clearly spread that a full-scale war had erupted underground between the three gangs, and everyone was trying to escape.
Reiji was running deeper in with his Pokémon, which drew plenty of side-eyes. But nobody said anything. These weren't naïve tourists—they all knew how dangerous this place was. If he wanted to go die in there, no one was going to stop him.
When Reiji reached the Storm Gang base, he didn't enter the cavern. After what happened to the Poison Gang, he wasn't about to trap himself inside. If the exits got sealed again, getting out would be a nightmare.
But the situation inside was nothing like he'd expected. Fighting had already broken out in the black market area and around the Storm Gang base.
Team Rocket's counterattack. He hadn't expected they'd be able to push back. If the Storm Gang was already under attack, then Team Rocket's forces at the central battlefield probably weren't at a disadvantage at all—maybe they even held the upper hand.
Maybe Team Rocket had pulled experts from headquarters and was using the same "play along" trick on the Rock Gang and Storm Gang. None of that mattered to him. He had one goal: raid their homes. Chaos was exactly what he needed.
As long as he didn't step into the main battlefield, as long as the fighting didn't reach him, they could kill each other however they liked.
Not long after, Darkrai came back out with Gengar and warned him, "It's chaotic in there too. We grabbed a lot of valuables. Our luck was good this time—we got the boss's backpack, plus several Storm Gang members' packs…"
"We're leaving." Reiji motioned with a hand and turned to go. It was enough. A person couldn't be too greedy—if they stayed longer, the risk of getting hit only went up.
Next they reached the Rock Gang base. Darkrai and Gengar went in again, while Reiji waited quietly in the sewer outside the black market area.
This base wasn't chaotic at all. If Team Rocket was counterattacking, it should've been simultaneous—Storm Gang got hit, but Rock Gang didn't? Something felt wrong.
And sure enough, the moment he thought that, the "wrong" arrived.
"Naoki, we're old acquaintances. Why not submit to me? Become my subordinate, and I'll return this Golem that just reached Elite Four tier…"
"Spare me, Proton. You want me to submit? Not a chance."
Reiji was hiding in the sewer outside the cavern, hearing every word clearly. Naoki was the Rock Gang's boss.
And Proton… Reiji knew that name. One of Team Rocket's top officers.
Team Rocket's four generals were all Elite Four tier trainers. If Naoki was facing Proton, defeat was inevitable.
Even with a Golem that had just stepped into Elite Four tier, he wasn't beating Proton—especially with Arbok already coiled around it.
In Reiji's line of sight, after Naoki refused to submit, Arbok tightened its body inch by inch. With a sudden crack, the Golem burst apart.
The Rock-type Golem shattered into countless small fragments, scattering everywhere. Crushed like that, it was gone.
Naoki saw it and his eyes turned bloodshot with rage. He hated Team Rocket. He hated Proton. He wanted Proton dead.
But rage didn't help him now. It couldn't defeat Proton. And he couldn't beat Proton as he was.
Naoki could only order his remaining two Pokémon—Flygon and Swampert—to use Earthquake at full power.
The ground roared and shook.
"Naoki, are you trying to die?" Proton snapped, then raised a hand and ordered his men to withdraw from the cavern first.
"Heh… Proton. Team Rocket. Just you wait. I'll be back, and you'll all die." Naoki kept the Earthquake going, then had Flygon Dig while Swampert stayed behind, continuing to use Earthquake to block and collapse the tunnel behind him.
Naoki grabbed Flygon by the tail and vanished into the mine. Proton wanted to chase, but he'd have to carve a fresh tunnel while the other side kept digging and shaking the earth. Following like that risked being buried alive himself, so he couldn't be bothered. Their objective had already been achieved—there was no need to pursue a stray dog.
As for revenge?
Proton, a Poison-type Elite Four trainer, understood better than anyone how hard it was to reach that tier. If it were easy, Elite Four trainers would be everywhere.
Naoki was already in his thirties, judging by his beard, and he'd only had one Elite Four tier Pokémon—and now it was dead. Swampert and Magcargo hadn't made the jump, and Magcargo had already been crippled. Magnezone and Exeggutor had been crippled too.
Four of his six main Pokémon were gone. The remaining two were injured. What revenge was he going to take—at forty? Fifty?
And by fifty, who knew where Proton would even be. As a Team Rocket officer, he lived on dangerous missions. Nobody planned that far ahead.
After Naoki abandoned his subordinates and fled, Proton also left the cavern with his men to avoid losing people if it collapsed.
Besides, Naoki didn't have many men left anyway. Rock Gang's elite had all gone with him to ambush the Poison Gang at the duel site—and Team Rocket had wiped them out.
Those people were either captured or forced to submit. As for the hardliners who refused to bend, Team Rocket wouldn't let them live. Not a single one escaped. When Team Rocket cast a net, the prey didn't get away.
The ones left behind at the Rock Gang base were either weak or ignored—expendable cannon fodder that could be replaced anytime. Naoki's own life mattered more than they did.
This alliance with the Storm Gang had ruined him. Storm Gang had dragged him into a trap, and Team Rocket had crippled what was left. Not only was he wrecked, he was now a boss with no men.
To rebuild back to today's scale, even a conservative estimate would be ten years—especially with Rock Gang's money-making territory and the mine. So many elites… all gone.
Reiji didn't see any of what came after. The moment the Earthquake started, he grabbed Poliwhirl and ran for the surface, planning to wait aboveground for Darkrai and Gengar.
Darkrai and Gengar could hide in shadows. They didn't fear tremors or rockfalls. Once they came out with the loot, they could follow his scent and find him.
When Reiji made it back to the surface, he finally let out a long breath. He'd genuinely thought he'd be buried alive. He'd sprinted all the way out without even having time to catch his breath. If he'd known it would turn into this, he wouldn't have gone anywhere near it.
Even someone like Naoki—quasi–Elite Four tier—could only tuck his tail and run. Reiji really had been an overeager rookie, charging in to "watch the excitement."
He hadn't expected Naoki to use Earthquake in a way that could bury everyone, including himself. Thankfully Reiji ran fast, and in the end Pelipper even carried him out. He had no idea what happened next, or whether Naoki and Proton were buried.
One was quasi–Elite Four tier, the other Elite Four tier. They probably wouldn't die that easily. As long as their Pokémon could Dig, getting buried for good was unlikely.
Lost in those thoughts, Reiji climbed out through a drainage outlet. He hadn't relaxed for long before he ran into even bigger players clashing near the seaside outlet.
"Give me some face. This ends here. From now on, Trovitopolis's underground belongs to Team Rocket. If you dare reach for the Black Ship at sea—reach with one hand, and I'll cut that hand off."
"Hahahaha. Captain, you're straightforward. I'll report this to Boss Giovanni. Farewell."
"Wait. Release my men. And their Pokémon."
"No problem. You can send people down to receive them. We won't interfere."
The two speaking—one was the Black Ship's captain, here personally to rescue his people, and the other was Storm Gang boss Riku.
The other man, naturally, was a Team Rocket officer who had chased Riku all the way here, only to be stopped by the Black Ship's captain.
Either way, the captain was an Elite Four tier trainer. The Team Rocket officer couldn't keep chasing.
No special reason—his team was Electric-type and countered Riku well enough, but he wasn't Elite Four tier himself. Against the captain, he'd be at a serious disadvantage. If he lost and got captured, Proton would have to clean up his mess again. Better not to fight at all.
Since Riku's boss had stepped in to protect his subordinate, the officer had to give that face. He'd just report to Proton later. It wasn't that he didn't want to chase—he simply couldn't win. That wasn't his fault.
After the Team Rocket officer withdrew, Riku finally exhaled. If the captain hadn't intervened, he would've nearly died tonight.
"Abandon the underground market. You and the second mate go pick up that group of elites and bring them back. Don't clash with Team Rocket."
"Captain… are we really letting it end like this?" Riku couldn't hide his unwillingness. He'd built this foundation with his own hands—was he really supposed to hand it over?
"Are you telling me how to do my job?" The captain glanced at him coolly, as if asking whether Riku's wings had hardened enough to try flying solo.
"I wouldn't dare." Riku lowered his head. He wasn't trying to defy the captain—he just couldn't accept it. The captain had trained him; how could he go against his will?
"I was going to have you run the ship routes. Now I'm thinking there's no need." With that, the captain mounted his Pidgeot and returned to the Black Ship out at sea.
"Alright, Third. The captain's doing this for your own good—he's tempering your mindset. Come back to the Black Ship and serve as third mate again. Big Brother (the first mate) is about to break into Elite Four tier, and he'll be going out to run routes soon. I'll become first mate, you'll become second mate. Take it slow. Don't rush."
"I understand, Brother." Riku sighed, finally accepting the order. He prepared to go down into the sewers with the second mate and retrieve the captured men.
This "Second Brother" wasn't his biological brother—just a sworn brother. They also had a "Big Brother."
Once he rose to second mate, the Black Ship would pick a new third mate from among advanced trainers. They'd thought-brotherhood again, and the new third mate would be called Fourth Brother. That was how the Black Ship kept itself together.
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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