Team Rocket’s Second-in-Command! [468]

Although Sird was clearly surprised by Luo Yuan appointing her as the new head of Team Rocket's Sinnoh division, she also knew him well enough to understand—if Luo Yuan dared entrust her with this role, then he had already made thorough preparations.

There was no chance he'd leave her an opening to betray them.

But that didn't bother Sird. This time, she truly had no intention of turning against Team Rocket.

At the thought, her expression softened slightly.

And when Luo Yuan saw the shift on her face, he knew she had accepted the appointment.

"You're already quite familiar with Galactic, so I won't bother with introductions. You know Pluto, right? He'll be assisting you here," Luo Yuan said.

Sird, of course, knew Pluto.

Given what she knew of him, it was no surprise he had chosen to defect to Team Rocket.

"What's our next objective?" Sird asked. She was, after all, a former Rocket executive—it didn't take her long to fall back into work mode.

What pleased Luo Yuan even more was that Sird had placed herself squarely under his command.

"We've already absorbed most of Team Galactic's infrastructure. You'll oversee the final stage of integration," Luo Yuan said, accepting a briefcase from Malva, who had just entered the room.

He opened it and handed her the Poké Balls that had been confiscated from her after her arrest.

"And you'll be handling relations with the Sinnoh League."

"What's the strategy?" Sird asked, hooking the Poké Balls to her belt. "Peaceful coexistence? Open confrontation? Or infiltration and control?"

"Peaceful on the surface, while covertly infiltrating the League," Luo Yuan replied without hesitation. "I've already arranged a covert deal with the Sinnoh League. They've agreed not to interfere with our absorption of Galactic."

"Although the battle at Spear Pillar already scared the Sinnoh League half to death, it doesn't mean the tension between them and us is gone. The moment they confirm I've left the Sinnoh region, they're bound to come poking around the local Team Rocket branch."

"So from now on, you'll need to keep a close eye on the League."

Sird gave a small nod. From those few words, she had already pieced together a rough picture of Team Rocket's current standing in Sinnoh.

None of it fazed her.

Just then, Matori, who had been standing quietly nearby, stepped forward and handed her a stack of documents. "Since you're now officially in charge of the Sinnoh division, these are all yours."

Sird took the papers on reflex—and instantly realized it was a pile of documents requiring her review and signature.

Sird: "..."

Having offloaded the paperwork, Matori smiled contentedly. After working alongside Luo Yuan for so long, she might not have fully mastered his art of evasion, but she'd certainly picked up most of the tricks.

And now that Sird was here—ready and conveniently positioned as the new scapegoat—there was absolutely no reason for Matori to continue dealing with the drudgery herself.

Leaving Sird behind in the office to tackle the stack of forms, Luo Yuan exited with Matori, accompanied by Malva.

"What are you planning to do with Cyrus?" Matori asked.

Before they came, Boss Giovanni had only instructed her to retrieve Sird from the Rocket prison and hand her over to Luo Yuan—he hadn't mentioned Cyrus at all.

"He's no longer of any value."

Now that Team Rocket had all but completely absorbed Galactic, Cyrus was useless. Even the few off-the-books Galactic bank accounts he still controlled had already been extracted by Pluto using his technical skills and handed over to Luo Yuan.

And with a large portion of Galactic's trainers defecting en masse...

Frankly, even if Luo Yuan let Cyrus walk free now, there was no way he'd ever stage a comeback.

"I've found the perfect place for Cyrus," Luo Yuan said with a faint smile, his thoughts turning to the Distortion World. "I have a feeling he'll love it there."

---

While Luo Yuan and the others were inventorying the Galactic assets to be transported back to Kanto, a high-level meeting was taking place within the Sinnoh League.

The agenda had two items: first, how to respond to Team Rocket's growing presence and incursion into Sinnoh. Second, whether Champion Cynthia had committed any violations during the recent incident.

As previously mentioned, each region's League operated under a different structure.

In Kanto and Johto, for example, the League was led by a council of the Champion and the Elite Four—currently under Lance's leadership.

Hoenn, on the other hand, was run by the Pokémon Association. Even a Champion like Steven Stone, who came from a powerful corporate dynasty, had to defer to the Association's decisions.

Sinnoh fell somewhere between the two models—a hybrid system combining the Pokémon Association, the League executive committee, and a council led by the Champion and Elite Four, with Cynthia as its current head.

Before the recent events, Cynthia's strength and charisma had made her the de facto leader of the entire governing body.

Which was how she'd managed to spearhead the operation to dismantle Team Galactic.

But now, after that mission had failed—after a member of the Elite Four had been captured and the League forced into a hostage exchange with Team Rocket—Cynthia's authority within the League had taken a significant hit.

Her position had never been shakier.

Which led to scenes like the one currently playing out at the meeting.

"Champion Cynthia, please explain your motivation and reasoning for cooperating with Team Rocket on the day of the Spear Pillar incident," asked a Pokémon Association official, reading from a prepared statement.

"I've already explained," Cynthia replied calmly. "At the time, I learned from Rocket agents that Cyrus intended to destroy the Sinnoh region. The situation was urgent, and I had no choice but to engage in limited cooperation."

"But during the Spear Pillar conflict," another official cut in, "you clearly had an opportunity to relay intelligence to the League while evacuating civilians from the area. Yet you chose not to. Why? Are you aware that your failure to report cost us the best chance at a coordinated response?"

Cynthia was silent for a beat—then looked at the man like he was an idiot.

In that situation, even if I had informed the League—so what?

I, the strongest trainer in Sinnoh, couldn't even handle the Tech Hunter alone. And you think the League had a better plan?

How many Legendary Pokémon does the League even have?

Oh, what's that? None? And you wanted to throw yourselves into that kind of battle anyway? What, do you have a death wish or something?

The colleague beside the questioning official gave a subtle tug at his sleeve, clearly aware the question had been… lacking in thought.