Well, at least the misunderstanding was mostly cleared up.
With their plan to infiltrate New Island finalized for tomorrow, August sent Blaine a message, briefly explaining that he’d have to make a small sacrifice for the mission.
He also contacted Lorelei, who hadn’t arrived on Cinnabar Island yet, asking her to station herself outside the island’s perimeter. Once things inside New Island kicked off, she could launch her attack at the perfect moment.
Meanwhile, Sabrina—after her brief moment of fluster—had regained her composure.
As she met Blue’s sharp, slightly charged gaze, Sabrina glanced between her and August, suddenly feeling like she had stumbled upon a secret.
Thinking back on everything August had done to her in the past, Sabrina suddenly sensed an opportunity for payback.
Right then, August had just finished explaining his plan to Blaine. Turning around, he said, “Sabrina, you can stay at the hotel tonight. I’ll go book you a room.”
Sabrina flicked her hair, seizing her chance. “No need for that. August, are you even aware that Team Rocket already linked you to Lt. Surge’s capture based on your hotel records in Celadon?
“We can’t afford to leave any more traces for them.”
August frowned. “Then where are you staying?”
Sabrina’s lips curled into a smirk as she casually looked around. “This place seems nice. I’ll just stay here for the night.”
Seeing Blue’s darkening expression and August’s momentary shock, Sabrina knew—she’d found his weakness.
But just as she was feeling smug about her newfound leverage—
August’s expression suddenly changed. The confusion vanished, replaced by a sly smile.
“Oh? You think so too, Sabrina? Guess we have similar taste.”
“In fact, the private hot spring that comes with this suite is quite spacious. Wanna check it out?”
“It’s a mixed-gender bath, by the way~”
“…A mixed bath?”
Sabrina’s smile froze instantly.
…
In the end, Sabrina did stay.
As much as she wanted to leave, she’d already made the argument herself—if Giovanni found out she and August had been spotted in the same hotel but weren’t working together, it would raise suspicions and jeopardize their entire plan.
“While Blue and I are in the hot spring, you’re forbidden from entering.” Sabrina stated firmly.
“Yeah, yeah… You’ve already said that three times.” August sighed dramatically. “Are we not colleagues? Do you really have so little faith in me?”
Sabrina’s only response was a dry chuckle.
For a man who had hypnotized her once, created mystery energy cubes with questionable effects, and pulled off an insanely convincing disguise as Blue, she felt like being cautious was completely reasonable.
Just to be sure, she left her Alakazam outside to watch him.
Only then did she step into the hot spring.
August turned to Blue, who—after everything that had happened—was now very convinced that there was nothing between him and Sabrina.
Still, she hadn’t forgotten how he transformed into her earlier. So before heading into the bath, she stuck out her tongue playfully at him.
Now alone, August sighed and flopped onto Gardevoir’s lap.
“Where’s the trust in this world?”
“Garde~”
Gardevoir rolled its eyes before placing its hands gently on August’s head, sending out soothing waves of psychic energy to help him relax.
With that, the two resumed watching the movie they had left unfinished.
…
The previous night, August had dozed off watching the movie with Gardevoir.
Now, he woke up in bed, greeted by—
On his left: Eevee, drooling in its sleep, looking utterly silly.
On his right: Mew, curled up into a ball, its tail loosely wrapped around his arm.
Nearby, Gardevoir sat cross-legged on the floor, deep in meditation.
Sensing August wake up, Gardevoir opened its eyes.
“Did I wake you?” August asked.
“Garde~” Gardevoir shook its head.
For it, just a few hours of deep meditation was enough to stay fully energized all day.
Mew stirred as well, lazily uncoiling its tail from August’s arm before stretching with a soft, sleepy mew~.
August glanced at Gardevoir. Then at Mew.
Finally, he looked at the still-drooling Eevee.
He sighed and picked it up. “Come on, wake up. We’ve got work to do today.”
“Buii~”
Eevee groggily mumbled something, crawled onto August’s shoulder…
And immediately fell back asleep.
Like it had powered off on the spot.
August shook it a few times. Seeing that nothing would wake it up, he gave up.
With Eevee still draped over his shoulder, he stepped out of the room.
…
August was the last to arrive in the living room.
By the time he got there, Sabrina, Blue, and Blaine were already gathered.
As always, Blaine wore his round sunglasses and was tugging thoughtfully at his beard while explaining the layout of New Island’s core research facilities to Blue and Sabrina.
The moment he saw August walk in, his hand visibly trembled.
August immediately noticed. “Huh? Blaine, why’s your hand still shaking? Didn’t Mew’s treatment work last time?”
Blaine: “…..”
You seriously have no idea why my hands are shaking?!
Ever since he met August, nothing good had happened to him.
Sure, betraying Team Rocket and joining the League had been his decision.
But being tricked into joining the International Police’s Kanto Division? Definitely not part of his plan.
And now, instead of focusing on research, he had been dragged into combat missions against Team Rocket.
Of course, he did need access to New Island’s database to figure out how to cure the Mewtwo cells inside him, so… he could tolerate this much.
But this?
Making an old man pretend to be a prisoner and willingly walk into Team Rocket’s headquarters?
That was inhumane!
Seeing Blaine’s expression, August could pretty much guess what was going through his mind.
With a sigh, he said, “Blaine, this isn’t my fault. Team Rocket figured out that the squad sent after you was completely wiped out. They sent Sabrina after you—how is that my fault?”
“Besides, it’s not just you. All of us—me, Blue, and Sabrina—are going in together. Relax, nothing’s going to happen.”
Easy for him to say.
Blaine knew how heavily fortified New Island was.
August, on the other hand, only had a vague idea. Sure, he had taken down Koga and Lt. Surge before, but aside from that one battle, Blaine didn’t know the full extent of his strength.
If they had Mew and an external League force attacking from the outside, there was a chance.
But infiltrating the base before any external help arrived?
That was just insane.
Seeing Blaine’s reluctance, August sighed and turned to Sabrina.
After hearing her recount August’s past exploits, Blaine felt slightly reassured.
…Only slightly.
After all, they were infiltrating one of Team Rocket’s most heavily guarded facilities.
So, the four of them sat down and discussed potential issues, worst-case scenarios, and contingency plans.
By the time they finished, an entire page was filled with notes.
August glanced over the meticulously detailed document—
And all he saw was:
“Improvise as needed.”
—
As one of Team Rocket’s most critical bases, New Island was under extremely tight security.
Even with Sabrina leading the way, their yacht had to pass through four separate security checks before they were allowed to dock.
The moment they stepped onto the pier, a squad of Rocket Grunts—already waiting in formation—snapped to attention and saluted.
Behind Sabrina, two uniformed Rocket members escorted a prisoner down from the boat.
That “prisoner” was none other than… Blaine?!
Wait… Blaine?
The Rocket Grunts on the pier were stunned.
If they remembered correctly, HQ had just received reports yesterday that the squad sent to capture him had gone missing.
And now, one day later, Sabrina had already captured him?!
As expected of the last remaining Admin—the strongest among them!
“Admin Sabrina!”
Sabrina gave them a calm nod. “Where is the Boss?”
One of the grunts immediately stepped forward. “Admin Sabrina, please follow me—this way.”
With that, Sabrina, along with the disguised August and Blue—who were playing the role of her subordinates—followed the Rocket team into the base.
…
To give credit where it was due, Team Rocket’s security measures on New Island were exceptionally thorough.
From the dock to the central research facility—disguised as a small mountain—August could feel dozens of hidden eyes watching their every move.
And that was despite the fact that his disguise marked him as nothing more than a low-level grunt.
Blaine, on the other hand, was receiving far more attention.
If it had been anyone else in his position, they’d probably be drenched in cold sweat by now.
Luckily, Blaine was old enough—and had seen enough—to stay outwardly composed.
“Stay alert. We’ll be seeing Giovanni soon. I’ll leave you outside the office for now. Wait for my signal before entering.”
Sabrina’s voice echoed in their minds via telepathy.
Inside the base, they couldn’t risk releasing any Pokémon. Even Mew was kept inside its Poké Ball to avoid detection from potential security scanners.
“Gardevoir_Is_The_Best: Understood.”
“…..This is telepathy. Do you have to include your username?”
Using telepathy required her to expend mental energy. Every unnecessary word drained her focus.
“Garde_best: Got it.”
…Still not perfect, but at least he cut it from 28 characters to 14.
Sabrina let it slide.
…
Passing through layer upon layer of security, August used his [Aura] abilities to sense the many hidden Pokémon stationed throughout the base.
But the most intimidating presence…
His eyes flickered toward the heart of the facility.
There—an overwhelming power was stirring.
The Poké Ball containing Mew trembled slightly in response, but August quickly used [Aura] to send a reassuring message.
“Not yet. Wait for the right moment.”
Calming Mew down, he and Blue continued escorting Blaine behind Sabrina.
Finally, they arrived at a large office door.
Standing outside was Matori—Giovanni’s personal secretary—who had clearly been expecting them.
“The Boss is waiting for you,” Matori said, adjusting her glasses.
She glanced briefly at Blaine—then at August and Blue, who were posing as Rocket operatives.
August remained perfectly calm.
With the Mimicry Mask enhancing his disguise, the only people who could possibly see through it were those extremely familiar with the person he was impersonating.
As for Blue—
Unlike August, she didn’t need a special item.
Having trained under the Masked Army, her natural disguise skills were far more polished.
Convincing Matori?
Child’s play.
Matori gave them a passing glance before leading Sabrina inside.
Left alone, August, Blue, Blaine, and two stationed guards stood in silence outside the office.
With Matori gone, the guards visibly relaxed.
One of them eyed August and Blue curiously. “Hey, where are you guys from? I don’t remember seeing you around here before.”
August had expected this.
“We’re Admin Sabrina’s personal subordinates,” he said smoothly. “We’ve always worked with her in Saffron City. Of course, you haven’t seen us before.”
The guard raised a brow. “Wait, so that whole rumor about Admin Sabrina refusing to let Team Rocket interfere with her Gym—was that false?”
It had been widely speculated that Sabrina had a falling out with Sird because she refused to let Team Rocket meddle in her territory.
But these two standing before them proved otherwise.
Maybe she wasn’t opposed to Team Rocket’s presence—just extremely selective about who she worked with.
The other guard, suddenly curious, asked, “So… what’s it like working under Admin Sabrina?”
Blaine froze.
This wasn’t in their list of possible questions!
He instinctively looked at August—
Who, to his surprise, looked completely unfazed.
With a calm smile, August started counting on his fingers.
“Oh, the benefits are great—salary, pension, full insurance coverage, paid leave, company housing, expense reimbursements, and bonuses for mission completions. Even the initial ‘recruitment fee’ we had to pay was refunded as a signing bonus.”
Blue nodded in agreement.
…Though internally, she was screaming.
Because everything August just said—
Was exactly the benefits package for Kanto’s International Police informants.
…And the guards bought it.
One of them hesitated before asking—
“What’s the recruitment process like? Is there a way to transfer?”
—
T/N: i want to transfer too! i want sabrina to step on m-
This is a fan translation of 人在实教，一之濑你会后悔的 by 作者：白良. 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!
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