"Mr. Damian, I think we can have a good talk."
Hearing Rose's words, Damian couldn't help but let out a light laugh.
"So I wonder if you have time, Mr. Damian?"
"If the mighty Chairman of the Galar League is inviting me, there's no reason to refuse."
Damian naturally agreed. Rather than that, he really wasn't surprised by Rose's invitation.
Because Rose was the kind of man who wouldn't be strange no matter what he did.
After setting the meeting location, Damian hung up and thought about Rose's purpose in asking him out.
But after thinking it over, the biggest reason could only be that thing.
Perfect. He could also see just how much resolve Rose was willing to show.
The next day arrived.
Hulbury was a harbor city located in the eastern part of the Galar Region.
There were many shops and dining rooms here, and it was lively no matter the time. The place Rose recommended was the Hulbury seafood dining room in Hulbury.
After entering the seafood dining room, they were led into the private room Rose had booked.
Inside the private room, Rose and Oleana were already waiting.
"Hehe~ Mr. Damian, I've heard a lot about you."
Seeing Damian and the others come in, Rose stood up with a smile and walked over to shake hands.
Rose was a very charismatic mature man. He wore an expensive silver-gray suit, his black hair neatly combed back, with a strand of bangs falling diagonally across his forehead.
"Chairman Rose, you're too polite. Your name is the one that rings everywhere. People all over the Galar Region sing your praises, Chairman."
Damian shook Rose's hand, studying this legendary Galar League chairman.
"It's all just everyone's kindness. Come on, have a seat first."
Rose smiled faintly and called for Damian and the others to sit down.
"The seafood at this dining room is the most authentic. It's all freshly scooped up every day. Very fresh and delicious. It's a must-try if you come to Hulbury."
"Come on, I've already ordered the signature dishes. Mr. Damian can see if there's anything else he wants. No need to be polite with me."
Rose said with a smile, his attitude very friendly and warm.
Damian nodded. If he remembered correctly, Rose had also invited the protagonist to this Hulbury seafood dining room in the game's plot.
But that was irrelevant.
"Chairman, you're the president of Macro Cosmos. If I'm polite with you, that'd be rude to you." Damian took the menu and handed it to Caitlin and the others.
"Hehe~" Rose smiled.
"I'd heard it from Leon before, but meeting you in person, Mr. Damian, still really surprised me. You really are a hero among boys~"
After ordering, Rose placed both hands on the table and looked at Damian in amazement.
He was so young. Damian was only seventeen now, yet he was already famous across the world, even leaving the Pokémon League helpless against him.
A prodigy like that, and he wasn't even from the Galar Region. Rose felt very helpless.
"Champion Leon? Champion Leon is an excellent Champion too. And really, Mr.Chairman, you're the one who deserves admiration. From a runner-up to the current Galar regional chairman."
Damian spoke slowly and unhurriedly, smiling as he looked at Rose.
Just as Damian said, Rose's life was also extremely epic. Back then, Rose had been an excellent Trainer, becoming runner-up in the Champion Cup.
Riding that wave, he rose to fame, slowly becoming both League chairman and the leader of a conglomerate company, and bringing Dynamax into Gym battles, making the Galar League world-famous.
Rumor had it that Rose had even worked in the mines before. If that was true, then Rose really was incredibly inspiring.
From a miner to the respected Galar chairman he was now.
"Many people simply have unique talent. They just need a bit of luck, and my luck has always been pretty good, so that's how I became who I am now."
Rose said with a smile. That was why he liked sponsoring those kids who were struggling—because he believed everyone had their own talent.
And as it turned out, that choice of his was right.
Damian chuckled and didn't say much more. In a sense, Rose's words weren't wrong.
After some casual chatting, Rose finally got to the point.
"Mr. Damian, I'd really like to know—what exactly is Team Rocket's purpose on your side?"
Rose's deep eyes looked at Damian, his magnetic voice pleasant to the ear.
"Purpose?" Damian raised a brow at that.
"Mr.Chairman, the Pokémon League has existed for more than a hundred years now, and as of today, the whole world is basically under the League's rule."
Damian spoke at length.
"However, the League practices benevolent rule, which also means that even if someone makes a mistake, even if they do something truly nasty, they won't receive any real punishment. At most, they'll spend some time locked in a cell."
Rose thought about it and found that to be true.
"The League believes humanity is inherently good, but reality has proven that Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, and every other region all have their own darkness."
"Mr.Chairman, under your and Leon's management, the Galar Region is indeed fairly harmonious, but can you really guarantee there aren't any evil people in the Galar Region?"
Damian looked at Rose.
"No. I can't guarantee that either. Human nature is too complicated, and there are even plenty of people who do bad things with good intentions."
Rose sighed, because he still remembered the Stow-on-Side incident very clearly.
Bede had destroyed the town's ruins in order to find Wishing Star for him, but that was absolutely not the outcome Rose wanted.
"Pokémon hunters, thugs who run rampant and bully others—really, the only thing the Galar Region does better than other regions is that it hasn't formed a large-scale evil team."
Damian said calmly. In fact, it was hard for the Galar Region to form a large-scale evil organization, because the entire region was under Rose's management.
If anything happened, word would quickly reach Rose's ears, and Rose could send people to deal with it.
So for someone to go underground in the Galar Region was honestly very difficult.
"So, Mr. Damian, what exactly do you want to do?" Rose didn't deny it and asked Damian again.
"My Team Rocket has only one purpose: to purge the dark world." Damian replied like that.
Purge the dark world, then rule the dark world, right?
Rose understood. No wonder things on the Kanto side had never been able to work out with Team Rocket.
How could they possibly compromise?
Before, while the evil teams couldn't be wiped out, they were at least a loose collection, with no real threat.
But if Team Rocket became the dominant force, then that scale would be no joke—especially with a boss like Damian leading Team Rocket.
Not to mention strong Champion-tier Trainers like Caitlin and Zinnia.
Team Rocket's threat was simply too great.
Even if, as Damian himself said, Team Rocket's purpose was only the dark world, could that really be trusted?
What if Damian got ambitious one day?
"I see." Rose fell silent for a moment.
"The Galar Region doesn't resist Team Rocket's entry, and Team Rocket will protect the peace of the Galar Region from now on. That really does move me."
"Mr. Damian, this is a small token of goodwill from the Galar Region to an esteemed organization member. Please accept it."
Rose spoke sincerely and pushed a bank card in front of Damian.
"Oh?"
Damian raised a brow, looking at the Macro Cosmos bank card. He didn't even need to think twice—Rose's gift definitely wouldn't be a small amount.
"Mr.Chairman, aren't you being a little too polite?"
"This is how it should be. Personally, I think what Mr. Damian said makes a lot of sense. The League's methods are often too gentle."
"With Team Rocket helping from below, this is a win-win, right?"
Rose smiled with deep meaning.
"That's right. Mr.Chairman really is a reasonable man." Damian clicked his tongue and lifted his glass toward Rose in a small gesture.
"The Galar Region is still very beautiful. Mr. Damian can take his time looking around this land after this."
"Of course."
The meal ended with both host and guest satisfied. It had to be said, Rose was witty and humorous, yet mature and rational, and the conversation flowed topic after topic without ever going cold.
After the meal was over, Damian and Rose said their goodbyes.
"What do you think of Rose?"
Damian asked Caitlin and the other two girls.
"Very friendly. Too friendly."
Caitlin got straight to the point. She really felt Rose was a little too friendly.
If he thought Team Rocket was hard to deal with, he could've just stayed out of sight, like the Kalos side did.
But Rose not only showed up in person and showed no resistance to Team Rocket's entry, he even handed over a sum of money, saying it was a token of goodwill for Team Rocket's members.
Damian checked it. There was a full ten billion on that card, and that was no small amount.
"If you didn't know better, you'd think Rose was supporting Team Rocket."
Dawn added that, then looked at the Dynamax Band on her wrist.
But Rose supporting Team Rocket... that shouldn't be possible, since the Galar League was part of the Pokémon League.
As for the Dynamax Band, that was a gift from Rose. With a Dynamax Band, they could Dynamax their Pokémon in places with energy points.
"Rose is too shrewd. He doesn't want to offend either side, and he's still placing his bets."
Damian chuckled softly.
"That works out fine, though. Things should go pretty smoothly when we start growing in the Galar Region. If something doesn't go smoothly, we can always ask Rose to help make it smooth."
As for Rose's attitude, Damian actually thought it made sense.
After all, for Rose, the Galar Region itself was what mattered most. He loved this land too deeply.
Elsewhere.
"Mr. Chairman, aren't you going to ask him to handle that matter?"
Oleana followed behind Rose and asked, puzzled.
"There's no rush. This is a pretty good start, isn't it?"
Rose said with a faint smile.
"Damian is ambitious, and he's smart. He'll understand what we mean."
"The Indigo League and Team Rocket don't need us getting involved. Next, go to the Energy Plant and confirm Eternatus's condition again."
"Yes."
Oleana nodded.
Rose looked out at the sea in the distance, feeling very helpless as well. Because of Damian's meteoric rise, Rose actually had reason to believe Leon wouldn't be too resistant to Eternatus.
But because of Damian's legendary terror-level combat power, what Rose was more worried about now was whether Leon even had the ability to catch Eternatus.
The reason Rose had been so confident before was because he firmly believed the invincible Champion Leon could catch Eternatus and fulfill his wish.
To make the Galar Region never have to worry about energy again.
But Damian's performance with those Legendary Pokémon made Rose unable to trust Leon's combat power so completely anymore.
If... if he awakened Eternatus, but Leon couldn't catch it, then things would really be bad.
So getting on good terms with Damian was the best choice.
As for Team Rocket establishing itself in Galar, that was already something impossible to stop. Team Rocket wanting to control the Galar underworld wasn't a problem either.
"Leon, huh..."
Rose let out a quiet sigh in his heart, hoping Leon wouldn't disappoint him.
"Oleana, don't 'feed' Eternatus too much energy. Just make sure it can keep its life signs."
Rose thought for a moment and added that to Oleana.
"I understand."
Oleana froze, then nodded.
Eternatus was a Pokémon that needed energy to sustain life, and if it didn't have enough energy, its combat power would naturally be affected too.
By using this method, they could subtly keep Eternatus's strength from getting too far out of hand.
After that, Damian and the others played in Hulbury for another day before taking the train to the Crown Tundra.
The Crown Tundra was the most famous wild area in the Galar Region.
The Crown Tundra, a freezing land where steep snow-covered mountains rose high, where people lived in small villages and depended on one another.
"Whew~ the temperature's a little low."
Looking at the scenery outside the train, gradually covered in ice and snow, Serena's eyes inevitably filled with curiosity.
The most dangerous wild area in the Galar Region, and supposedly there were even Legendary Pokémon dwelling inside the Crown Tundra.
From that alone, it was obvious this trip would be a lot of fun.
"Yeah, put your coat on later so you don't catch cold."
As he spoke, Damian looked toward a beautiful girl sitting not far away, flipping through a book. She was wearing a women's JK-style outfit, with black pantyhose on her legs, as if she didn't care at all that the temperature was dropping.
She was basically Superman~!
Damian couldn't help clicking his tongue, but he also recognized that girl. She was Peonia.
Peony's eldest daughter, Peonia, really was incredibly resistant to the cold. Damian didn't know whether she had some special constitution.
As for Damian himself, he had been blessed by Arceus, so his body was completely beyond normal people's standards. He wasn't all that afraid of the cold.
The train soon came to a stop, and Damian led Caitlin and the other two girls, now all wearing padded coats, off the train.
"Sure enough, the snowy scenery really is beautiful."
Damian looked around. This was the starting point of the Crown Tundra, the Freezington snowfields.
But very soon, Damian's gaze was drawn to the two people not far away.
"Shaku-chan~ you're finally here."
A tall, muscular middle-aged man wearing an orange-yellow mountaineering outfit walked over to greet Peonia.
Peonia's eye twitched. She really wanted to kick her dad in the face.
"Huh? This man."
Dawn was also drawn in by the commotion over there. When she saw the middle-aged man's face, she froze.
Because he looked far too much like Rose!
"Peony, the former Galar Region Champion, Rose's younger brother."
Damian's lips curled upward as he looked at Peony's silhouette and said softly.
That's right! Rose's younger brother!
However, Peony and Rose had a pretty bad relationship, and the two brothers had not contacted each other for many years.
The reason Peony didn't continue as Champion was because Rose became chairman of the Galar League, so Peony stepped down.
Of course, for Damian, that was actually a good thing.
"Another top-tier Admin, and then..."
Damian slowly walked toward Peony. Someone like that could be pulled into the organization, couldn't they?
Not to mention, although Peony's eldest daughter Peonia didn't have much Trainer talent, Peony's second daughter was no simple matter.
The "Star Gang Underling" Penny from the protagonist team in Crimson and Violet was exactly Peony's second daughter.
She was also a girl with extremely outstanding talent. Though she wasn't as good as the protagonist and Nemona, Penny's strength was still quite strong.
As long as Peony joined Team Rocket, there was no need to worry about Penny slipping away.
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