Maki didn't linger at the scene for long. After regaining his composure, he left the area and found a quiet spot where he could once again summon his Cottonee.
"Cotton~"
"I'm fine now."
The moment Cottonee emerged, it immediately started circling around Maki, as if inspecting him for injuries. Only after confirming that he was unharmed did it let out a relieved sigh and float onto his shoulder.
"Cotton? Cotton!!"
Having been inside its Poké Ball the entire time, Cottonee had no idea what had happened and was naturally bursting with curiosity.
But as soon as it turned its gaze, it noticed that the small, clumsy Charmander that had been following them was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a much larger figure standing in its place.
"Cotton! Cotton cotton!"
[Speak up! Where did you hide my little Charmander?!]
"Charmeleon~"
Charmeleon hadn't expected its sudden evolution to confuse Cottonee. It helplessly raised its claws, trying to explain the situation.
"Cotton?"
[Evolved?]
Cottonee froze for a moment, processing the information. Once it fully grasped what had happened, its eyes widened in shock.
"Cotton cotton cotton!!"
[You betrayed the Brotherhood of Small Dragons and evolved?! How could you be so disloyal?!]
Charmeleon could only explain that even it wasn't entirely sure how the evolution had happened. It had simply touched a strange stone, and the next thing it knew—it had evolved.
"Cotton?"
[A stone?]
Cottonee's eyes lit up. Without hesitation, it zipped over to Maki's ear, chattering excitedly. Its intent was obvious: hand over the stone—Cottonee wanted to evolve too!
"Why are you so eager to join the excitement?"
Maki sighed, catching the eager little Pokémon in his hands before giving its cottony body a good rub. This had become one of his favorite pastimes.
"Charmander evolved because it already had the potential to do so. This was just an unexpected trigger. As for you…"
Maki flicked Cottonee lightly on the forehead.
"You've got a long way to go. Even if that shard could make you evolve—which it can't—you're nowhere near ready."
If Maki truly wanted Cottonee to evolve, acquiring a Sun Stone—or even a high-quality one—wouldn't be difficult.
But it was far too soon. Cottonee had only recently hatched and still had plenty of untapped potential. Evolving now would only waste that growth.
After calming down his disappointed Pokémon, Maki placed a video call to Giovanni.
"What is it?"
As expected, Giovanni's backdrop was still his office. With so many matters within Team Rocket requiring his attention, he rarely left his desk.
"What's going on now? Didn't I tell you to stay in Saffron City and keep an eye on Sabrina? And yet, I hear you're heading to Celadon City? What's so important that you have to go there?"
The moment Giovanni picked up, Maki found himself under a verbal assault.
It wasn't that Giovanni was particularly worried about anything happening to Sabrina. She had been holding down the fort for a while now, and most issues had been resolved. He wasn't concerned.
What did annoy him, however, was the constant phone calls from Sabrina ever since Maki left. Every single time, she'd ask, "When is Maki coming back?"
Even someone as patient as Giovanni was starting to get irritated.
And it wasn't like he could scold or threaten Sabrina. If he pushed too hard, who knew what kind of crazy stunt she might pull?
All of this made Giovanni increasingly frustrated with Maki, to the point where he was tempted to have Dragonite tie him up and ship him back to Saffron City.
On top of that, Silver's recent actions outside Team Rocket had only reinforced Giovanni's suspicion that he was raising two complete troublemakers.
"I can't stay in Saffron City forever. Besides, I do check in with Sabrina now and then… Forget it, let's just get to the point."
Maki didn't want to waste time on this argument, knowing full well that he'd be the one losing in the end.
"I found something interesting."
"Oh? Another Mew, perhaps?"
Giovanni's voice carried a hint of amusement. He was only joking, though—Maki running into one Mew was already an absurd stroke of luck. The idea of stumbling upon another was ridiculous.
"Not quite, but close."
With that, Maki reached into his bag and pulled out the mysterious stone tablet fragment.
"This is…" Giovanni's eyes narrowed as he leaned in closer to the screen to get a better look.
"A fragment of a tablet!"
Once again, Giovanni was taken aback by Maki's absurd luck. First, he encountered Mew. And now, he had somehow gotten his hands on a fragment of a legendary tablet. What were the odds?
After listening to Maki's brief explanation, Giovanni fell silent.
For a long time, Giovanni had been a staunch believer in science.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he finally spoke. "Who do you think is responsible? Whoever did this managed to operate under the radar, evading both the Pokémon League and Team Rocket."
Maki smirked slightly before responding in a slow, deliberate tone.
"The Hunter's Guild."
The Hunter's Guild—one of the Pokémon world's largest underground organizations. Their influence stretched far and wide, from Kanto and Johto to distant regions like Sinnoh and Kalos.
However, due to their loose internal structure and the fact that their members were driven purely by money, neither the League nor even criminal organizations like Team Rocket considered them a major threat.
Maki suspected that Hunter J—the infamous Pokémon poacher seen in the Sinnoh region's animated chronicles—was a member of this very organization.
Upon hearing Maki's theory, Giovanni couldn't help but smile. His thoughts had been the same.
For an operation of this scale to slip past both the League and Team Rocket, only someone of considerable rank within the Hunter's Guild could have been behind it.
"I'll have Attila investigate this. I'll update you when we have more information."
"Attila ?"
Maki frowned at the mention of the name.
Attila was one of Team Rocket's elite officers. However, unlike loyal executives like Proton and Ariana, Attila had ambitions of his own. Though he hid them well, there was no way Giovanni hadn't noticed.
"Relax. As long as I'm still leading Team Rocket, Attila won't dare step out of line."
Giovanni spoke with absolute confidence. He never minded ambitious subordinates, because as long as he was alive, Team Rocket would always belong to him—and him alone.
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