Team Rocket’s Second-in-Command! [506]

Although Rose could sense things were beginning to spiral beyond his control, he had no intention of backing down.

On one hand, the intruders outside were pressing in fast.

On the other, in Rose’s eyes, this “minor mishap” wasn’t anything unmanageable. As long as he could subdue Eternatus, then everything else would fall into place.

“Wake it up,” he ordered his subordinates.

The staff member cast a glance at Eternatus, whose oppressive aura was intensifying by the second. He almost wanted to say, At this rate, it’s going to wake up on its own even if we don’t do anything.

But after catching sight of the murderous look on Rose’s face, he promptly shut his mouth and silently reactivated the energy system fueling Eternatus.

The power surged back online.

Eternatus absorbed the energy greedily, like a sponge soaking up water.
The energy core inside its body grew ever brighter.
The Galar particles in the air climbed again, now so dense they could be seen with the naked eye.

Seeing this, the staff inside the energy plant grew visibly panicked… all except Rose, whose eyes remained locked on Eternatus, oblivious to everything happening around him.

The ancient being from beyond the stars was awakening.

Its terrifying aura stirred the darkening skies outside into motion, and the “Darkest Day” phenomenon became impossible to ignore — visible now across the entire Galar region.

And just then—

Bang!

A deafening crash echoed through the factory.

Everyone turned toward the source of the sound.

A crowd of Trainers dressed in black uniforms with bold red lettering — the unmistakable insignia of Team Rocket — marched into the main hall. At their center was a masked man clad in black armor and a dark cape.

“Rose,” the masked figure declared, “you’re under suspicion of unlawfully detaining a wild Pokémon and endangering public safety through reckless actions. Come with us.”

It was Luo Yuan.

The words stunned the nearby staff.
Wasn’t Rose the current head of the Galar League?

It was because of that status that they’d agreed to take part in something this dangerous in the first place.

And now here came a group claiming they were going to arrest him — and not just anyone, but Team Rocket, the criminal organization currently viewed as a top threat by the League?
Had Galar really fallen this far behind the rest of the world?
Was this what evil organizations looked like these days?

“Ba…”

Rose’s expression darkened.

He had already spotted this group of Rockets on the surveillance monitors. What caught him off guard wasn’t their presence — he had anticipated the intrusion.

What truly surprised him… was that the security forces he’d stationed along the way hadn’t slowed them down at all.

Beyond the guards at the entrance, he had deployed fifty Trainers between the lobby and the elevators — among them were members of the Galar League, as well as elite security personnel from Macro Cosmos.

Rose was confident that even Champion Leon himself wouldn’t be able to break through so quickly.

But now…

“Thinking about your men?” Luo Yuan asked, clearly reading Rose’s mind.

With a snap of his fingers, a group of Trainers was shoved into the hall — bound in ropes, humiliated.

They were League Trainers, eyes full of shame as they looked at Rose.

To be defeated so swiftly, despite being some of Galar’s finest… it was a disgrace.

But it wasn’t really their fault — the enemy had been too strong.

“What’s Team Rocket planning?” Rose shot a glance at Eternatus, not yet fully awakened, hoping to buy time.

Luo Yuan noticed, but didn’t react.

Originally, his plan had been to stop Eternatus before it could wake — to prevent the Darkest Day from happening in the first place.

Unfortunately, plans rarely keep up with reality. Even before Eternatus had fully revived, the skies over Galar had already begun to change. Psychic-type Gym Leader Sabrina had already messaged him with reports of wild [Dynamax] Pokémon appearing across the region.

At this point, Luo Yuan thought, we might as well let Eternatus awaken… and end it once and for all.

So he chose to ignore Rose’s little stalling act and played along.

“What is Team Rocket planning? Maybe the better question is—what are you planning?”

“As a responsible organization, we’re deeply concerned that you — the President of Macro Cosmos and Chairman of the Galar League — would put the lives of Galar’s citizens at risk for your own selfish gain, and bring this disaster upon us all.”

His tone was righteous and resolute.

And to drive the point home, Luo Yuan projected a series of holograms into the air — images sent by Sabrina, showing the destruction caused by [Dynamax] Pokémon all across Galar.

The sight was harrowing.

With Luo Yuan’s words echoing in their ears and the stark reality of the projections before their eyes, the League Trainers in the hall momentarily forgot all about Team Rocket’s infamy.

Instead, they turned to look at Rose — their eyes full of unease and doubt.

They might have been his subordinates…

But they were also Galar citizens.

And now, faced with scenes of their homeland in ruins — possibly with their own families caught in the chaos — it was hard not to feel conflicted. Hard not to empathize.

—

This is a fan translation of 我，火箭队二把手！ by 落唯 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!