"Poochyena, use—" Before the words could even leave his mouth, he saw that the Poochyena was frozen stiff in place.
"Poochyena?" The man hurriedly stepped forward, picked up Poochyena, and examined it repeatedly in his arms. "What is this, frostbite?"
"I don't know, it seemed to shoot out from that staff of his." His teammate leaned in to take a look, the gaze he directed at Ron's back inevitably tinged with apprehension. "What do we do? Do we still grab him?"
Hearing this, the man gritted his teeth. "Screw it, charge!"
On the other side, while Ron's Gogoat was galloping rapidly, Ron suddenly noticed the hungry frog summoned by the Frog Egg. It had apparently eaten something, as its cheeks were bulging.
"—It didn't catch some passing Pokémon, did it?" Ron paused, signaled the Gogoat to stop, and walked over to the frog. He reached out and patted it gently. "What did you eat? Spit it out."
Before the words fully left his mouth, a few ambiguous whimpers came from inside the frog's mouth.
Ron fell silent for a moment. He then reached out and pried the frog's mouth open.
"Croak?"
The frog exchanged a glance with Ron. The next instant, it opened its massive jaws and spat out—a human dressed in black.
"Froakie?" Froakie hopped over to the man in disbelief, then hopped back to the frog, staring at it with a face full of astonishment. "Froakie?"
"Croak."
The spat-out man was currently sitting on the ground, staring blankly at the frog. He didn't move a muscle until Ron spoke to him; only then did he let out a terrified scream, instinctively crawling backward. "Ahhhhh! Monster, monster!"
"—" Ron stared at the man's already half-melted clothes. After looking for a while, he vaguely recognized the massive 'R' emblazoned on his chest.
"Froakie, block him."
While saying this, Ron sent out Bellossom.
With a flash of sword light, a purple longsword appeared horizontally in front of the man.
The man looked up in terror and saw a Bellossom. It was holding a longsword several times its own size with both hands, staring motionlessly at him.
Even though it looked small and cute, he instantly sensed the terrifying killing intent emanating from Bellossom.
He shrank back and turned his head, only to be hit heavily in the back by a rather powerful Water Gun.
"Hiss." The man flinched. Just as he was about to grit his teeth and send out his own Pokémon, Ron kicked his Poké Ball away.
"Are you from Team Rocket?"
"That's right! I am a Team Rocket Elite Admi—"
Too lazy to listen to the man's self-introduction, Ron abruptly cut him off. "Then you came at the right time. Jessie and the others have decided to quit Team Rocket. I heard they left some Pokémon in storage there. Bring them out now and give them to me."
"I knew those losers—" Before he could finish, a sword light flashed. Under Bellossom's piercing glare, he forcefully swallowed his words. "Alright, I'll get it done right now."
Saying this, he sat up, pulled out the team's communicator, and quickly contacted headquarters.
Although he initially intended to use a secret code during the call to inform headquarters about the current situation, under the threat of Bellossom, he tremblingly submitted a request to withdraw Jessie and the others' Pokémon.
Although the person on the other end found his request strange, because Jessie and the others' Pokémon weren't particularly strong and were basically just freeloading off the team without providing much help, they readily agreed.
"Done. A Delibird will deliver them shortly." The man looked up at Ron. "Can I leave now?"
"Let's wait until the Pokémon are delivered." Saying this, Ron casually sat down. "What procedures are needed to quit the team?"
"Who?" The man pondered for a moment, then turned his head and exchanged a glance with his teammate hiding in the bushes. Just as he was about to signal the other man to contact the organization, the frog next to them suddenly shot its tongue out toward the bushes.
"Poochyena, hurry up and use it, Poochyena—" a scream echoed from the bushes.
The next instant, the frog spat the Poochyena out of its mouth.
The Poochyena rolled to the side, soaking wet. It stared blankly at the frog by Ron's feet and collapsed onto the ground, looking as if it had seen a ghost.
Ron followed his gaze over and saw the other man walking out with his hands raised in surrender.
"I didn't even do anything." Saying this, he honestly squatted down next to Ron. After glancing around a bit, he tactfully took the hint and explained, "It's about James and the others quitting, right? Hmm—I think they were actually kicked out once before because of poor performance. But because they owed a massive debt within the organization, the Boss let them back in so they could pay it off."
Ron fell silent for a moment. "So the debt needs to be paid off?"
"No need." The man waved his hand. His eyes darted back and forth between the staff on Ron's back and the bizarre frog nearby. Just as he was about to say something else, Ron made a hand gesture, and Bellossom immediately darted over, resting its blade across the man's neck.
"You'd better tell the truth," Ron said. "Don't even think about trying to extort us."
"—Then there's nothing else." Looking at the sword on his neck, the man acted like one who knew what was good for him and shrugged. "The organization actually silently wrote them off a long time ago."
Ron waved his hand, and Bellossom stepped back to the side, resting with its sword.
The two Team Rocket members looked at Bellossom, then at the frog, and finally at Ron. They couldn't help but exchange a glance.
As their eyes met, from the greedy gleam in their eyes, Ron could guess exactly what kind of malicious ideas these two were cooking up.
Just as Ron was wondering whether he should warn them again, a Delibird flew over, flapping its wings, and landed before the three of them.
It surveyed its surroundings, stopped in front of the Team Rocket members, opened its pouch, took out the Poké Balls inside, and handed them to the man.
"Delii?"
"Yes, yes, that's all of them. Thanks for the hard work."
The Delibird suspiciously swept its gaze across everyone present. Seeing that they all looked perfectly natural, it flapped its wings after a moment and flew off toward the Team Rocket Kalos branch.
Once the Delibird was far away, the man immediately handed the Poké Balls to Ron. "This is all of them. The Pokémon they left at headquarters."
Ron glanced over them briefly and put all the Poké Balls into his backpack.
"Can we go now?"
"Yeah."
The moment the words left his mouth, the two men briskly ran off into the distance.
Ron watched their retreating figures. After pondering for a moment, he decided to prepare a few extra farm Warp Totems for Abigail and the others later.
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