— — — — — — —
"Wait a second!"
Suddenly, Cynthia let go of Eevee and looked at it with curiosity.
"If you can switch between two forms now, does that mean you can also revert to your original Eevee form anytime you want?"
Seeing the anticipation in Cynthia's eyes, Eevee smirked slightly, nodded, and then—its entire body was enveloped in a bright white glow.
A second later, Vaporeon vanished.
And in its place, a small, fluffy Eevee appeared before Cynthia.
Absolutely adorable!
"Eevee!"
"Whoa!!"
Cynthia was instantly smitten.
She scooped Eevee up in her arms and rubbed her cheek against its soft fur, grinning.
"It's been so long since I've felt this! As expected, Eevee's original form is still the cutest and coziest!"
Eevee: "Yep, Cynthia's arms are still the most comfortable place!"
Honestly, it liked this form the most too.
"Oh, right! How's the research on the Blood Orchid coming along?" Cynthia suddenly looked down and asked.
This was a crucial matter—it could enhance the potential and strength of her other Pokémon. And more importantly, it determined whether she could become powerful enough to protect Eevee.
Naturally, she was deeply concerned about it.
"It's not that fast!"
Eevee shook its head. "Give me some more time! At least ten more days. I won't let Garchomp and the others use it until I can create a version with zero side effects! Otherwise, it'd just be harming them."
It was a good Eevee, not some mad scientist.
And it definitely wasn't like those Rocket Team lunatics who threw ethics out the window for their experiments.
It was better to take things slow and steady.
For now, Eevee had mainly handed this research over to Apocalypse Renzo and his science team.
After all, they were already studying the Blood Orchid. Adding a Pokémon-specific sub-project to their research wouldn't be a big deal for them, right?
If anything, it might even give them a new research direction.
As for Eevee, its main priority was still unlocking and awakening new evolution forms.
Not to mention mastering the power of those new forms.
Plus, integrating ninja techniques into its evolved skills to grow even stronger.
For example, with its newly unlocked Vaporeon form, it could incorporate techniques like: Water Clone Jutsu,Water Release: Hard Whirlpool Water Blade, Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique, and many more into its battle style.
Even if some jutsu weren't directly usable yet, that didn't mean Eevee couldn't absorb their core principles and develop Pokémon-style versions of them.
"That makes sense! Thanks, Eevee!"
Cynthia nodded, feeling pleased with how cautious and thoughtful Eevee was—not just for itself, but for its teammates as well.
Still, they had been staying in this place for quite a few days now.
Now that Eevee's research had reached a temporary break, Cynthia turned to it and asked:
"So, do we stay here and continue studying, or do we finally start traveling again?"
Honestly, she was getting a little restless.
Staying in one place for too long got boring.
Especially since Eevee was always caught up in research and barely had time to hang out with her.
"Let's hit the road!"
"At this point, staying locked up won't help much. The best way to master my new Water-type form is to use it in real battles!"
Eevee made the decision firmly.
There were a lot of Water-type moves it still needed to learn.
"Hehe! Perfect! Then let's leave today!"
Cynthia laughed and gave Eevee a quick kiss on the cheek.
Eevee was left feeling a little dazed.
"First, come shopping with me to get all the travel essentials!"
"Got it!"
"Yay! Eevee, you're the best!"
— — —
Viridian City—Viridian Gym—Giovanni's Office
BANG!
"What?! The Celadon City base was exposed?! Athena, Dr. Nancy, and the others got completely captured?! What the hell happened?!"
Giovanni slammed his desk in fury as he received the latest report from his Rocket Team members.
Was this some kind of sick joke?!
How the hell did they lose such an important base without so much as a warning?!
And not only that—Athena, one of his highest-ranking executives, and even key Pokémon researchers had all been taken!
To Giovanni, this was nothing short of a disaster.
"When did Athena become so useless?!"
But the most infuriating part? According to the Rocket Grunt's report, the entire base—including the Celadon Game Corner—had been taken over by the Pokémon League without a fight.
There wasn't even a single sign of struggle.
It was as if...
As if Athena and the others had just let themselves be captured.
"Oh, right! BOSS!"
The Rocket Grunt's voice continued over the transmission.
"When I was observing from a distance while the League was taking our people away, I noticed something strange—Athena, Dr. Nancy, and every single captured Rocket member were completely unconsciouswhen they were carried out!"
"I was thinking… could they have all been instantly hypnotizedand subdued? Otherwise, I really can't think of any other explanation for this bizarre situation!"
The Rocket Grunt reported and analyzed the situation carefully.
And honestly? His theory made a lot of sense.
By the way, the only reason he himself hadn't been caught was that he had been hiding in another safehouse deep within Celadon City.
"Hmm…"
Giovanni fell into deep thought.
tap!tap!tap!
He tapped his fingers rhythmically on the armrest of his chair before giving an order.
"Alright, I'm upgrading your clearance level for Celadon City and the surrounding areas. Immediately infiltrate the police department and dig for any information. If you bring me something useful, I'll promote you on the spot. Understood?"
"Yes! Thank you, BOSS! I'll get on it right away!"
The Rocket Grunt was thrilled.
Without wasting another second, he cut the communication and rushed off to work.
Meanwhile, Giovanni turned to his secretary, Matori, his expression ice-cold.
"Send Apollo to intercept the League's transport before they can rescue Athena and Dr. Nancy."
"Also, mobilize our entire network to investigate everyone who entered and left Celadon City in the past week."
"At the same time, send Rocket operatives to question the customers who were at the Game Corner that day. We must find out if there were any suspicious individuals entering or leaving the premises."
"I want results, and I want them fast."
"I need to know who the hell dared to move against Team Rocket from the shadows!"
As he spoke, Giovanni clenched his fists tightly, his voice dripping with venom.
"If I find out who it was… I'll grind them to dust and scatter their ashes! Hmph!"
There was no way he was letting this slide.
Matori immediately nodded. "Yes, BOSS! I'll contact the necessary people and begin the operation right away!"
She swiftly relayed Giovanni's orders.
But after finishing, she couldn't help but ask in confusion:
"BOSS, do you mean… someone secretly took down Athena and Dr. Nancy first, then tipped off the League? And that's why they were captured without resistance?"
Who the hell would have the guts to pull something like that?
This was Kanto—Team Rocket's home turf.
Even criminal organizations from other regions wouldn't dare to make such a bold move out of nowhere.
"It has to be that way," Giovanni said darkly.
"There's no other explanation for why Athena and the others didn't fight back."
"The culprit likely has a Champion-level Psychic-type Pokémon! Otherwise, there's no way they could have taken out our people so quietly and effortlessly."
Even Giovanni himself was struggling to think of someone capable of pulling off such a feat.
Who had a Psychic-type that strong?
Names flashed through his mind, but none of them matched.
Either they lacked the necessary strength, or they had solid alibis—many of them weren't even in Kanto at the time, let alone near Celadon City.
Not knowing the enemy's identity only fueled his frustration.
— — —
Celadon City
Over the next few days, the underground of Celadon City—and even nearby areas—was in complete turmoil.
While Eevee continued its experiments, it also occasionally split part of its mind to secretly monitor Celadon City using its psychic abilities.
Naturally, it noticed Team Rocket's movements.
Some of the Game Corner's customers had actually remembered seeing Cynthia and Eevee enter the building that day.
Specifically, they recalled their unusual conversation with the receptionist.
At the time, it didn't seem like anything special…But when Team Rocket's men started asking questions, these customers started thinking more deeply about it.
"Great! We've found them—it has to be them!"
Just as a few Rocket members were getting excited about their discovery—
Zwoop!
Eevee silently teleported right beside them.
And in an instant—All of them were hypnotized.
A smooth and practiced mind-wiping session followed.
Within seconds, those Rocket members completely forgot anything related to Eevee and Cynthia.
"Nope! You guys didn't find anything!"
With a smug flick of its tail, Eevee teleported away.
...
Despite searching Celadon City for days, Team Rocket couldn't find a single clue about the mastermind behind the attack.
Worse yet, Athena and Dr. Nancy had already been transferred to the Kanto League headquarters under the personal supervision of Lance and Lorelei.
Meaning… Giovanni's plans to intercept them were already too late.
For now, he was completely out of options.
All he could do was plan for the future—find a way to break Athena and Dr. Nancy out later.
.
.
.