Team Rocket’s Second-in-Command! [481]

The tense atmosphere in the conference room instantly lightened the moment the discussion shifted away from contentious economic issues and toward Pokémon battles.

In the world of Pokémon, no one could resist the thrill of a good battle.

A Galar League official was the first to speak. “Is Elite Four Luo Yuan dissatisfied with our earlier arrangements?”

A friendly exhibition match had already been included in the schedule planned by the Galar League.

Since Galar had no Elite Four, the League had arranged for Raihan, the gym leader of Hammerlocke City and widely considered the strongest trainer in Galar after the Champion, to face Luo Yuan in the exhibition match. To them, pairing Raihan with Luo Yuan, the Johto Elite Four member, seemed like a fair and reasonable decision. They couldn’t understand what objection Luo Yuan might have.

But Luo Yuan simply smiled—pleasantly—and said something anything but pleasant, even bordering on provocation.

“Compared to Raihan, I’d actually prefer to battle Leon.”

Though he still wore a smile, there was no mistaking the condescension in his tone. He might as well have said, Everyone in Galar besides Leon is trash.

The Galar delegation, whose mood had only just started to ease, flared up again with barely contained anger.

They were furious at Luo Yuan’s arrogance.

They had chosen Raihan—second only to Leon—as a way to save face for Luo Yuan. That way, if he lost, it wouldn’t be too humiliating. They hadn’t expected Luo Yuan not only to snub their arrangement, but to outright mock them.

Is it because we don’t have an Elite Four? Does he think our Champion is weak because of that?

Their champion wasn’t like that pushover Steven Stone from Hoenn, who had actually lost to Luo Yuan. And Galar had its own unique Dynamax battle system—one that could turn the tide of any match.

The officials all turned to look at Oleana.

Oleana, however, wasn’t angry at Luo Yuan’s provocation. Instead, a flicker of suspicion crossed her mind.

Luo Yuan came here as a diplomatic envoy from Johto. So why does it feel like… he came to pick a fight?

If it had only been about pressuring Galar to open up its telecom market, that could be dismissed as business negotiations. But Luo Yuan’s behavior today was starting to seem far more deliberate.

Before she could think further, however, an invisible wave rippled through the room.

Oleana felt her consciousness blur for a moment. A small fragment of her memory vanished without a trace, and with it, the train of thought she’d just been following evaporated.

When she came to, she no longer questioned Luo Yuan’s odd behavior—instead, she focused only on his brazen arrogance, brows furrowed in displeasure.

After a long pause, Oleana made her decision. “If Champion Luo Yuan is that confident, then we accept your request.”

After all, all of Galar was under Chairman Rose’s control. Whether it was Leon or Raihan, it was simply a matter of informing them. The only real difference was how humiliating Luo Yuan’s loss might be.

But that would be his own doing. Even if the Johto League came to complain later, the Galar side would have every justification.

And if they could use this opportunity to bring Luo Yuan down a notch, they might even force him to make concessions on the telecom issue.

Oleana nodded, and the rest of the Galar officials, who took their cues from her, voiced no objection.

With each side harboring their own motives, Luo Yuan and the Galar delegation quickly reached a consensus on the matter.

Once the date for the match with Leon was set, the negotiations were officially concluded.

Luo Yuan would begin preparations for his battle with Leon, and Oleana would report the results of the meeting to Galar’s true “Emperor”—Chairman Rose—who would make the final decision about opening up the region’s telecom market.

The two parties agreed to resume talks on market access and cultural exchange in their next meeting.

…

Back in the hotel suite.

Sabrina—who had remained silent throughout the entire meeting—poured herself a glass of water and sat on the couch, looking relaxed.

After all, Luo Yuan had done all the talking. As his aide, she’d had nothing to worry about.

Luo Yuan, sprawled out on the bed, let out a thoughtful sigh. “No wonder Oleana is the Vice President of Macro Cosmos. Just that one little slip in my behavior almost made her see through me.”

His provocations at the meeting, of course, had been entirely intentional.

On one hand, he was testing just how tightly Chairman Rose controlled the Galar League. On the other, he was deliberately trying to sow discord between Galar and Kanto.

But perhaps he’d overplayed his hand—Oleana had nearly caught on. Which was why he’d been forced to use psychic power to erase that budding suspicion from her mind.

As a fellow psychic, Sabrina had easily picked up on his subtle use of telepathy during the meeting.

What puzzled her, however, was something else.

“You erased her memory. So why not go further and just control her outright? Wouldn’t that have solved our Galar problem even faster?”

Oleana’s status in Galar was clearly high—controlling her directly would make Team Rocket’s operations in the region exponentially easier.

Luo Yuan chuckled and explained, “Controlling Oleana wouldn’t be hard. What’s hard is doing it without Rose noticing anything.”

“Even if you mimic someone’s behavior patterns, it’s never perfect.”

“Overthrowing Galar is a long-term operation. Even the slightest misstep could ruin everything. And I refuse to believe a man like Rose—head of the entire Macro Cosmos Group—hasn’t accounted for the risk of psychic infiltration. If he has some kind of detection system and catches wind of this, then our only option would be full-scale invasion.”

Wiping a sliver of memory could go unnoticed. But full psychic control? Too risky. Luo Yuan, always cautious, wouldn’t leave such a glaring vulnerability.

No…

“As long as we follow the plan step by step, the Galar region will fall into Team Rocket’s hands eventually. There’s no need to rush it.”

For Luo Yuan, who had meticulously mapped out every phase of their strategy, time was on their side

—

T/N: I KNOW LITTLE ABOUT GALAR >.> SORRY

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!