Gate 5 opened with a clean mechanical click.
There was no dramatic hiss, no grinding roar of old steel, no theatrical reveal waiting behind the door. The layered panels simply unlocked and slid apart.
Enzo stepped through first, his mask still on his face.
Anna followed half a pace behind him, tablet tucked under one arm, her other hand resting close to her belt.
The chamber beyond Gate 5 was larger than Enzo expected. It was a staging room: concrete walls, reinforced floor panels marked with yellow loading lines, strip lights running across the ceiling, security cameras in every corner, and transport crates stacked neatly against the far wall. Everything had the same sterile Rocket efficiency.
Beside the crates waited the incubator.
It was bigger than Enzo expected.
The machine sat inside a reinforced metal frame, almost the size of a medical bed, with shock absorbers, dark glass, internal stabilization rings, and thick cables coiled around its base.
It did not look like equipment meant for hatching a normal Pokémon egg.
Good, Enzo thought.
Then his attention moved to the people waiting in the center of the room.
There were five of them.
Two stood to the left. Both male. Both were still, in a way, Enzo immediately respected.
The older one stood half a step ahead, not protectively but out of habit. He had the posture of someone used to speaking first, taking responsibility first, and being judged first.
His uniform was clean, his hands relaxed, his gaze direct without being challenging. He looked disciplined, but not rigid. Professional, but not empty. The kind of man who would answer a question properly and then wait for the next order instead of trying to impress anyone.
The younger brother stood beside him with a cigarette burning between two fingers.
Medium-length dark brown hair framed his face in uneven strands, half-hidden by a scarf wrapped around his neck. A black eyepatch covered his right eye, though not enough to hide the long scar that slipped from beneath it and carved down toward his jaw. His visible eye was crystal blue, cold enough to look almost artificial beneath the white strip lights.
He did not smoke nervously.
His gaze moved once across Enzo, once across Anna, once to the incubator, and once to the room's exits. Then it settled forward again. No wasted movement. No wasted curiosity.
Cold. Calculated. Well disciplined.
Enzo liked them immediately.
Then his gaze moved to the right, and for a single controlled second, his mind stopped.
Three recommendations from Giovanni.
Not three people.
Two people and a Pokémon.
A red-haired woman stood with one hand on her hip, chin raised, posture full of confidence that looked almost too theatrical. Beside her was a blue-haired man whose soft, handsome face and elegant stance made him look like he had wandered out of some noble family's garden party and accidentally joined a criminal organization. Between them stood a cream-colored Meowth, upright on two legs, arms crossed, tail flicking with irritation.
Enzo's face showed nothing.
Inside his skull, an old memory from another life screamed at him.
No.
Absolutely not.
Not them.
Anna glanced sideways at him. She caught something in the stillness of his body. And asked, "Enzo?"
He did not answer.
Jessie.
James.
Meowth.
The names did not come from a Team Rocket file. They came from a television screen in another world, from a life where Pokémon had been entertainment, danger had been animated, and Team Rocket had been represented by three recurring idiots who failed so often that failure had practically become their uniform.
That was the problem.
In this world, people did not bounce back from every explosion. Pokémon did not exist for jokes. Team Rocket was not a running gag that chased children and blasted off into the sky. It was a criminal organization with knives behind every smile, accounts written in blood, and graves full of people who had misunderstood how serious it was.
And yet here they were.
If Meowth could stand in front of him and exist, then other ridiculous memories might also matter.
That made those memories dangerous.
Enzo's gaze settled on the Meowth.
The Pokémon stared back with open suspicion, chin lifted, whiskers twitching. It was trying very hard to look dignified. It almost succeeded.
Enzo activated the System.
The blue interface opened silently in the corner of his vision.
[ SYSTEM SCAN — TARGET IDENTIFIED ]
Specimen: Meowth
Level: 24
Potential: LIGHT GREEN
Ability: Pickup
Typing: Normal
Moves Detected: Scratch, Fury Swipes, Bite, Fake Out
[ UNIQUE SKILL DETECTED ]
Special Ability: Human Speech
Obs: "Extremely rare cognitive adaptation. Subject demonstrates fluent human language, advanced memory retention, social mimicry, and independent tactical reasoning. Combat development is below species potential due to long-term neural adaptation toward speech, memory, and humanoid behavioral patterns."
So that part was real, too.
He suppressed the faintest urge to smile. Not because it was funny, exactly, but because it was strangely tragic. Meowth had gained something almost impossible, but the cost had been written into his body. A normal Meowth grew in one direction. This one had forced itself into another.
Not strong but useful, Enzo concluded.
That was the correct category.
A Light Green Meowth was nothing special as a combat asset. A talking Meowth with advanced memory, social mimicry, and enough pride to stand in a Rocket staging room like an officer was a completely different matter. He could infiltrate human spaces while being dismissed as a Pokémon. He could listen to conversations without being treated as a person. He could translate, lie, negotiate, observe, and report. In the right mission, that was more valuable than another mid-level fighter.
Giovanni had not sent him a joke.
If these three looked ridiculous, then the ridiculousness itself was probably part of the test.
Can you find value where everyone else sees garbage?
Enzo already knew the answer.
He had started with a defective Koffing.
The silence in the room stretched just long enough for the red-haired woman's expression to sharpen. She clearly disliked being studied. The blue-haired man looked between Enzo and Anna with polite curiosity, though there was tension in his shoulders. Meowth kept his arms crossed, but his ears had shifted slightly backward.
The two brothers did not react in the same way.
The older one waited.
The younger one exhaled a thin stream of smoke and watched.
Good.
Enzo finally spoke.
"I am the squad leader of Lambda Squad," he said, his voice calm enough that the room seemed to grow colder. "For now, you may call me Enzo."
The name landed differently on each of them. The older brother absorbed it like information. The younger's visible eye sharpened by a fraction. Jessie's expression shifted into immediate calculation. James straightened a little, as if he had suddenly realized he was in front of someone more important than expected. Meowth blinked once and looked him up and down again.
Anna said nothing. She simply watched, tablet held against her chest.
"You were selected to integrate into Lambda under Shadow Unit authority," Enzo continued. "This is not warehouse duty. This is not patrol work. This is not a normal Team Rocket assignment. Lambda handles restricted operations, sensitive assets, and long-term strategic projects. That means discretion, obedience, and results."
He let his gaze pass over them one by one: the older brother, the smoker, Jessie, James, Meowth. He did not hurry through it. He did not raise his voice. He did not need to.
"Anyone who treats this like ordinary work will regret it."
The words were simple. The meaning was not.
Jessie's posture stiffened. James swallowed. Meowth's tail stopped moving. The older brother remained still. The younger brother took the cigarette from his mouth and lowered it to his side, not out of fear, but out of respect for the fact that the room had changed.
Enzo had been about to ask for introductions, but the incubator drew his attention again and he discarded the idea. The protocol could wait. The egg could not.
"Introductions later," he said. "We leave first."
Jessie blinked. "Leave?"
Enzo pointed toward the incubator. "You three. Move that."
Meowth's ears twitched. "Us?"
"Yes."
James looked at the machine, then at his own hands, then back at Enzo. "Of course. Naturally, we are fully capable of transporting delicate equipment with the appropriate care and—"
"Carefully," Enzo cut in.
James stopped speaking.
Enzo's voice dropped slightly. "If it breaks, I kill you."
The room became silent in a much more practical way. It was the sort of silence that arrived when everyone understood the same instruction at once, and nobody wanted to be the first person to test whether it had been exaggerated.
Jessie's expression shifted from offended to cautious. James went pale. Meowth opened his mouth, thought better of it, and closed it again.
The older brother stepped forward. "We can assist with transport, sir."
Enzo turned to him. "Name."
"Xenon, sir."
The younger brother removed the cigarette from his mouth. "Xedron."
His voice was lower than Xenon's. Rougher. Not lazy. Not hostile. Just cold.
Enzo looked at the cigarette.
Xedron noticed the glance and immediately pressed the burning tip against a small metal case pulled from his pocket, snuffing it without being told. He did not apologize. He did not explain. He simply removed the problem before it became one.
Good.
"Assist them," Enzo said. "Do not let them improvise."
Xenon gave a small nod. "Understood."
Jessie looked like she wanted to object to the implication. To her credit, she did not. That alone gave Enzo a little hope.
The next few minutes were a useful demonstration of character. Xenon moved first, checking the stabilizing clamps and load handles before allowing anyone else to touch the machine. He gave instructions clearly and without drama. James listened immediately. Jessie pretended not to listen, then followed the instructions anyway. Meowth complained under his breath while still holding exactly where he had been told to hold.
Xedron did less talking and more watching. He adjusted the hover-platform's side lock before anyone else noticed it had not fully engaged, then stepped back into position without asking for credit. His visible blue eye kept moving between the incubator's weight distribution, the exits, and Enzo's hands. Not intrusive. Not nervous. Professional.
Anna watched all of them carefully, while Enzo noticed her observing them.
She was learning. Not only how to obey, but also how to evaluate people.
That was much more valuable.
When the incubator was finally secured onto the hover-platform waiting beside the crates, Enzo turned to the guard stationed near the control panel.
"Gate route."
The guard straightened. "Gate 5 surface exit is clear, sir. The outer forest perimeter is green. Cameras are masked for five minutes."
"Open it."
The guard obeyed.
A second door opened at the back of the staging room, revealing a sloped tunnel lit by red emergency strips along the floor. Cold air drifted up from below, carrying the smell of damp stone, old metal, and forest soil.
Viridian Forest waited at the other end.
Enzo moved first, and the others followed.
For several minutes, the only sounds were the low hum of the hover-platform, the click of boots against concrete, and Meowth muttering things he clearly thought no one important could hear.
"Carry the incubator, he says," Meowth grumbled. "Don't break it, he says. Like, I go around breaking fancy machines for fun."
Jessie hissed at him. "Quiet."
"I am quiet."
"You're literally talking."
"I'm whispering."
James leaned toward him. "Technically, Meowth, whispering is still a kind of talking."
Meowth looked betrayed. "Whose side are you on?"
Anna tapped something into her tablet.
Enzo heard it and did not ask what category she had just created. He could guess.
Xedron walked at the rear of the group. Xenon stayed near the incubator, correcting the platform's path whenever the tunnel narrowed. The difference between the brothers was obvious after five minutes. Xenon managed people. Xedron managed threats.
Both were useful.
Eventually, the tunnel leveled out, and the final surface hatch opened into green darkness. Humid air rolled in, heavy with the smell of leaves, bark, and wild Pokémon. After Giovanni's office, Darkrai, vessels, legendary eggs, and the pressure of too many plans, Viridian Forest felt almost offensively normal.
Birds cried somewhere in the canopy. Insects hummed in the undergrowth. Branches shifted in the wind.
The world continued without understanding what moved beneath it.
Enzo stepped outside and whistled once.
A heavy shadow dropped from the trees.
Corviknight landed in front of them with enough weight to make the ground tremble. There was nothing elegant about it because there did not need to be. The steel bird descended as if a section of roof had come to life, red eyes glinting in the forest shade as its wings folded against its body with a metallic rustle.
Jessie's mouth opened slightly.
James took a careful step back.
Meowth's ears flattened. "That bird is huge."
Corviknight lowered its head toward him.
Meowth straightened immediately. "Respectfully huge."
Xenon looked impressed but controlled. Xedron looked at Corviknight, then at Enzo.
Enzo pointed toward the incubator. "Carry it. Do not damage it."
Corviknight gave a low metallic sound and stepped forward. Its talons closed carefully around the reinforced frame, not crushing, not scratching, just holding with absolute control. The hover-platform disengaged with a faint hiss, and the incubator lifted into the air beneath the bird.
James stared up at it. "That is… impressive."
Jessie recovered faster. "We could have carried it."
Meowth looked at her. "No, we could not."
She kicked lightly at him. He dodged, offended.
Enzo started walking. "Move."
No one argued.
They moved through Viridian Forest in a tight formation. Anna stayed near Enzo. Xenon positioned himself close enough to assist with orders if needed, but not so close that he looked like he was trying to insert himself into command. Xedron drifted to the rear with natural ease, smoke case tucked away, visible eye scanning the trees and shadows as if expecting the forest to make a mistake.
Jessie and James were not as clean, but they were not useless either. They watched more than they spoke now. Meowth kept glancing up at Corviknight, then back at Enzo, then at Anna's tablet, clearly trying to understand the hierarchy without asking too directly.
The first sign of the others was not visual.
It was the ground.
A deep vibration rolled through the forest floor, followed by another, heavier tremor that made Jessie stop mid-step.
"What was that?"
The trees ahead parted around something enormous.
Steelix rose above the clearing like a living bridge made of iron, its segmented body coiled around the container in a defensive loop. The giant steel serpent turned its head toward the approaching group, jaws parting just enough to show the sort of pressure that could turn a human body into paste.
On top of its head stood Ronnie.
He was grinning and waving.
"Boss!"
The contrast was obscene. Steelix looked like a siege engine. Ronnie looked like he had been waiting to welcome guests to a picnic.
Ronnie jumped down from Steelix's head with the reckless confidence of someone who trusted his Pokémon far more than he trusted gravity. He hit the ground, rolled once, came up smiling, and walked toward the newcomers with both arms open.
"Oh! You must be the new guys." He pointed at Xenon first, then Xedron. "Serious guy. Scar guy." His finger moved to Jessie and James. "Red hair. Blue hair." Then he looked down at Meowth and grinned even wider. "And little cat guy."
Meowth's ears twitched.
"Little cat guy?" Meowth snapped. "Watch your mouth, pal."
Ronnie froze so hard it looked like someone had pulled a wire out of him.
His smile stayed on his face for one full second too long.
Then it broke.
"What the fuck?"
Meowth crossed his arms. "What?"
Ronnie took half a step back and pointed at him. "You talk."
"Yes, I talk." Meowth rolled his eyes with the exhausted irritation of someone who had survived this exact reaction too many times. "What's the problem? You people act as if you've never heard words before."
Ronnie looked at Proton.
Proton, who had been standing beside the container with his arms crossed, looked like he had already suffered through Ronnie's reaction before it happened.
"Proton," Ronnie said carefully. "The cat talks."
"I noticed."
"You noticed?"
"Yes."
"And you're calm?"
"Yes."
Ronnie looked back at Meowth, then at Enzo, then at Anna, as if checking whether the entire world had decided to move on without him.
Meowth's tail flicked. "Are you done?"
Ronnie slowly pinched his own arm.
Hard.
"Ow."
Meowth stared. "What are you doing?"
"Checking if I'm awake."
Meowth gave him a flat look. "You are weird."
Ronnie's face brightened instantly. "Thanks. You too."
Meowth opened his mouth, then stopped, realizing too late that he had walked into that one.
Xenon's expression barely changed, but his shoulders adjusted in the smallest possible way, acknowledging the Steelix as the true threat behind the ridiculous man. Xedron's visible eye narrowed slightly, and his hand moved one inch closer to his belt before stopping. Jessie and James, meanwhile, seemed caught between embarrassment, confusion, and the dawning realization that Lambda Squad might be stranger than advertised.
Enzo noticed all of it.
Ronnie recovered faster than expected, mostly because his mind seemed incapable of staying shocked for long. He clapped his hands once and looked around the group again.
"Right. New guys. Welcome to Lambda. That big handsome bastard behind me is Steelix. Don't worry, he only eats people if I ask nicely."
James seemed uncertain whether he was allowed to laugh.
Meowth looked up at Steelix, then back at Ronnie. "You own that?"
Ronnie puffed up. "He owns himself. I just point him at problems."
Steelix rumbled behind him.
Meowth blinked slowly. "That's either very stupid or very wise."
"Thanks."
Proton finally cut in.
"Ronnie."
Ronnie turned. "What?"
"Behave."
"I am behaving."
"Let the boss speak."
Ronnie closed his mouth.
Mostly.
Enzo reached the center of the clearing and stopped in front of the container. The massive steel box sat where he had left it, hidden under camouflage netting and shadow, its doors sealed, its contents worth enough to start wars in poorer regions.
Hypno, the egg, was inside.
Enzo turned back to the new members.
"All of you, line up."
This time, they obeyed immediately. Jessie and James moved together, Meowth between them. Xenon and Xedron stood slightly apart from the trio, precise and still. Ronnie remained near Steelix. Proton stood to Enzo's right. Anna remained at his left.
Enzo lifted one hand to the back of his head and released the lock of his mask.
The artificial face came away smoothly, like a lie accepting that its job was done. He lowered it to his side and let the new members see his real face for the first time.
The reaction was immediate, but not loud.
Recognition moved through them quietly. Jessie's eyes widened. James went still. Meowth's mouth opened. Xenon's professionalism cracked slightly around the eyes. Xedron did not look surprised in the same open way, but his visible eye fixed on Enzo with new intensity, as if recalculating every rumor he had heard and comparing it to the man in front of him.
James was the first to almost speak.
"Wait… you're—"
"Yes," Enzo said.
The word cut through the clearing before his identity could become a spectacle.
"My name is Enzo Vance. I am your squad leader."
A faint wind moved through the trees. Above them, Corviknight shifted its grip on the incubator, and the metal frame creaked softly beneath its talons.
"The current core of Lambda is simple," Enzo continued. "Proton is my vice-captain. If I am absent, his orders are mine. If both Proton and I are absent, Ronnie commands."
Ronnie raised one hand in greeting.
Behind him, Steelix lowered its head, eyes glowing in the shade.
No one laughed.
Good.
Enzo looked first at Xenon and Xedron. The brothers understood power, and they did not need Ronnie to act like a perfect officer to recognize what a man with a Steelix represented. Then Enzo looked at Jessie, James, and Meowth.
"Any problem with that?"
Jessie's jaw tightened, but James shook his head quickly. "None."
Meowth crossed his arms again, though lower this time. "No problem from me."
Xenon answered for himself and his brother. "No problem, sir."
Xedron gave a single nod.
"Good."
Enzo slipped the mask into his coat. "Now we can do introductions."
Meowth stepped forward before either Jessie or James could move.
Interesting.
He planted himself in front of Enzo, lifted his chin, and performed a sharp little salute that would have looked ridiculous if not for how seriously he took it.
"My name is Meowth," he said.
Ronnie's eyes widened slightly, but this time he kept himself under control.
Meowth turned back to Enzo, pride recovering with every word. "I am not a normal Pokémon. I am one of the Boss's personal Pokémon. I was assigned here under Giovanni's recommendation so I could prove my value, grow stronger, and one day become worthy of standing as the Boss's main Pokémon."
The last part landed differently from the rest.
It was absurd, yes. But it was also sincere.
Enzo looked down at him and, for a moment, saw no anime mascot and no punchline. He saw a Pokémon that had twisted its own nature so hard it had lost something natural and gained language instead. A creature ambitious enough to become unnatural for the sake of being seen.
Enzo understood ambition.
He extended his hand.
"Welcome to Lambda, Meowth."
Meowth stared at the hand for a moment. Pride and confusion fought across his face, and then he saluted again before taking it.
"Thank you, Squad Leader."
His paw was small, firm, and clawed.
Ronnie smiled. "That's amazing."
Meowth closed his eyes for a second, as if asking the universe for patience.
Enzo released his paw. "Next."
Xenon stepped forward.
"My name is Xenon," he said. "This is my younger brother, Xedron. We have been part of Team Rocket for two years. We specialize in Pokémon combat, field support, and tactical escort work. We are honored to join Shadow Unit and intend to improve as trainers under your command."
Xedron inclined his head once. His visible crystal-blue eye stayed on Enzo, calm and unreadable.
No speech. No wasted air.
Anna looked up from her tablet. "Field support means suppression, perimeter defense, or active combat?"
Xenon's eyes moved to her. There was a tiny pause, the sort that showed he had not expected the question but respected it once asked.
"All three," he answered. "Depending on orders."
Anna made a note.
Then her gaze shifted to Xedron. "And you?"
Xedron finally spoke. "Recon. Removal. Close protection."
His voice carried no pride. Just function.
Anna's fingers paused for half a second before she wrote it down.
Enzo did not smile, but the answer pleased him.
"Acceptable," he said.
Xenon stepped back. Xedron did the same, already fading into stillness again.
Then Jessie and James moved together.
Too together.
Their eyes met. Their shoulders shifted. A spark passed between them, theatrical and catastrophically familiar. Enzo saw the disaster forming in slow motion and raised one hand before it could begin.
"Stop."
They froze.
Jessie blinked. "Excuse me?"
"No motto," Enzo said.
James' mouth remained half-open.
"No poem. No synchronized pose. No dramatic pause. No speech about blasting anything off. Introduce yourselves like operatives."
The silence that followed was one of the most satisfying things Enzo had experienced all day.
Jessie stared. James stared. Meowth slowly turned his head toward Enzo with a mix of horror and suspicion.
Anna looked down at her tablet again. Her shoulders moved once.
Xenon exhaled quietly through his nose. Almost a laugh, but too controlled to count.
Enzo ignored all of it.
Jessie recovered first, though her pride had clearly taken damage.
"My name is Jessie," she said, voice sharp enough to cut cloth. "I have been with Team Rocket for as long as I can remember. My primary partner is Arbok. I specialize in Poison-types, field deception, and infiltration when assigned."
The answer was better than Enzo expected.
Not perfect, but better.
James stepped forward next with an elegance that looked ridiculous in a forest clearing beside a giant Steelix.
"My name is James," he said. "I have been in Team Rocket for ten years. I am known for my beauty, my charm, and my talent as a trainer. My most faithful partner is Weezing."
Enzo felt the universe become annoying.
Of course.
Of course, he has a Weezing.
Somewhere in his belt, Weezing's Poké Ball pulsed faintly, as if reacting to the name through sheer stupidity.
Enzo did not look down. He did not sigh. He did not ask why fate had decided to keep manufacturing gas-related problems in his life.
He simply nodded.
"Pleasure to meet you. Welcome to Lambda."
James smiled with visible relief. Jessie looked annoyed that she hadn't done the motto. Meowth, however, was still watching Enzo with suspicion, clearly wondering how he had known about the motto before they had even started.
Enzo turned toward the container. "Now we work."
The remaining social energy died instantly.
"Our objective in Hoenn is not to build a temporary hideout," Enzo said. "It is not a bunker, a warehouse, or another improvised underground room."
Jessie frowned. "Then what is it?"
"Infrastructure," Enzo said. "A permanent base network. Storage, housing, laboratories, training areas, transport routes, communications, emergency exits, commercial cover, and eventually a full underground settlement."
James blinked. "A settlement?"
Ronnie grinned. "Boss means city."
The word landed hard.
A city.
Meowth stared at him. "You're building a city?"
Enzo looked at him. "No. We are."
That made the clearing quieter.
"You do not need to understand every part of the plan yet," Enzo continued. "That is my responsibility. Your responsibility is logistics, discipline, information control, and solving problems before they become visible."
He pointed once toward the container.
"That is our most important cargo. Nobody touches the container without my authorization. Nobody discusses it. Nobody asks what is inside."
His voice remained calm, but his gaze sharpened.
"If anyone leaks information, I will not send you back to Giovanni. I will handle it myself."
No one misunderstood.
Good.
Enzo looked at Proton. "You take Jessie, James, Xenon, and Xedron ahead with the material personnel once they are processed. Move quietly. Establish temporary lodging and wait for my instructions."
Proton nodded. "Understood."
Jessie looked at him. "We are leaving with him?"
"Yes."
Her pride bristled at being assigned away from Enzo after five minutes. Enzo saw it and did not care.
James looked more concerned about the logistics. "And Meowth?"
"Meowth stays with me for now."
Meowth blinked. "I will?"
"You speak human language," Enzo said. "That makes you too unusual to place blindly."
Meowth straightened, pride inflating instantly. "Naturally."
Jessie's eye twitched. James smiled politely, though Enzo could tell he was relieved Meowth was not being dismissed as a mascot.
Ronnie leaned toward Meowth. "You can ride with us."
Meowth looked him up and down. "On the giant metal snake?"
Ronnie grinned.
Proton clapped his hands once, not loudly, but enough to cut the conversation.
"Move. If you are with me, gear check now. I want to see your belts, your Pokémon, your comms, and anything you think you are hiding."
Jessie's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"
Proton's face did not change. "If I find it later, I confiscate it."
Jessie stared at him.
Proton stared back.
After three seconds, James quietly began emptying his pockets.
Xenon moved immediately. Xedron took one last slow look at Proton, then reached into his coat and began placing items on a nearby crate: a cigarette case, a lighter, a folding knife, a backup comm, a lockpick strip, and two small objects Enzo did not recognize from a distance.
Proton looked at the pile.
Xedron looked back.
"Anything else?" Proton asked.
"Yes," Xedron said.
He removed a third object from inside his scarf and placed it down.
Proton stared at him for a moment, then nodded once.
Enzo left Proton to handle the inspection and moved toward the container.
Corviknight lowered the incubator carefully near the doors. The machine touched the ground with a heavy, controlled thump, its reinforced frame settling into the dirt without tilting. Xenon took one step forward as if to help move it inside, but Enzo raised a hand.
"Stay back."
Xenon stopped immediately.
Everyone did.
The doors of the container unlocked from within.
A breath of cold, conditioned air slipped out first, carrying a faint medicinal smell mixed with something darker underneath. Then Hypno stepped out.
The reaction was subtle, but immediate.
Jessie went still. James' hand twitched toward his belt before he caught himself. Meowth's fur bristled along his spine. Xenon's eyes narrowed.
Hypno ignored all of them.
It emerged from the container slowly, pendulum hanging still in one hand, half-lidded eyes reflecting nothing. There was something wrong about how calm it was. Not sleepy. Not relaxed. Calm like a locked door.
Ronnie leaned toward James and whispered, "Don't stare too long."
James swallowed. "Why?"
Ronnie smiled.
"Because sometimes he notices."
James looked back at Hypno and very carefully stopped staring.
Enzo pointed to the incubator. "Inside."
Hypno lifted one hand.
A violet shimmer wrapped around the incubator's reinforced frame. The massive machine rose from the ground with no sound except the soft creak of its metal supports.
Hypno carried the incubator into the container without touching it.
Enzo followed.
Before stepping inside, he looked back once. "Nobody enters."
Proton's voice came from behind him. "You heard him."
The container doors closed.
Outside, silence settled over the clearing in a strange, uncomfortable layer.
The new members stared at the sealed container.
James was the first to speak, because of course he was.
"What is inside there?" he asked quietly.
Ronnie looked at him.
For once, he did not answer immediately.
Then he leaned back against Steelix's coiled body, crossed his arms, and looked at the container with an expression that was almost serious.
"Something the world would kill to possess," Ronnie said.
James' face paled.
Jessie's expression tightened.
Meowth looked again at the sealed doors, his ears lowering slightly.
Inside the container, the air was cold and heavy.
Hypno guided the incubator into position beside the temporary stabilizing case.
Only then did Hypno open the case.
Dark pressure filled the container immediately.
The shell of the egg seemed to drink the light around it. Black and crimson patterns shifted faintly across its surface, like smoke trapped under glass. The moment it was exposed, the incubator's sensors spiked, and the machine began to hum louder.
Hypno's eyes glowed.
Psychic force wrapped around the egg and lifted it with almost painful care.
Enzo stood close, watching every reading as the egg moved from one cradle to another. He did not breathe properly until the incubator sealed around him.
For several seconds, the machine resisted.
The lights flickered between red and yellow. The stabilizer rings rotated too fast, correcting, failing, correcting again. Hypno held the egg in place through the glass, its psychic pressure pressing against the dark energy leaking from the shell.
He forced it down as the incubator's hum changed, warning lights dimmed, and readings settled.
Only then did the System open.
[ SYSTEM SCAN — INCUBATION STATUS ]
Specimen: Galarian Moltres (UNHATCHED)
Condition: STABLE
Dark Energy Saturation: HIGH BUT CONTAINED
Incubator Synchronization: 100%
Incubation Estimate: UNKNOWN
Obs: "Artificial stabilization successful. Continued monitoring required. Embryonic energy signature remains volatile."
Enzo stared at the word STABLE for a long second.
His shoulders stayed tense, but he felt a shift—progress, not relief. Hypno lowered its hand. Well done, Enzo praised.
Hypno nodded and said telepathically, "It's a stubborn child."
Enzo almost smiled. "It comes from a true legendary. Of course it is."
When the container doors opened again, everyone outside turned.
Enzo stepped out first.
Hypno remained behind him inside the container, half-visible in the cold interior light, standing beside the incubator like a silent warden. Nobody saw the egg. Nobody saw the readings. Nobody saw what Lambda was really carrying.
They only saw Enzo come back out.
Meowth stared at the container with new caution
The next hour disappeared into controlled movement. The material grunts Enzo had chosen had not been brought to the clearing as a single crowd, because Enzo refused to turn useful bodies into noise. Noise became witnesses, and witnesses became problems. Instead, they were divided, checked, and routed through Proton in small batches of 5.
He stood near the container and watched Proton finish assigning the new members.
Anna approached with the tablet.
Soon after, they moved.
Not toward the city.
Away from it.
The first stage was simple: clear Viridian, avoid League roads, cross enough empty terrain so that any future investigation would chase disconnected ghosts rather than a continuous trail.
The second stage was flight. Corviknight took the container again, Fearow became the escort, and Proton took his assigned group on a separate route guided by coordinates Enzo sent through encrypted channels. The material grunts moved in small groups, never enough to look like a squad and never clean enough to pass for civilians.
Meowth stayed with Enzo, Anna, and Ronnie.
They flew south under weather that slowly changed. Kanto fell behind. Then Johto became land and lights beneath them. Then water replaced everything.
The journey from Kanto to Hoenn was nothing like the brutal haul from Galar. It did not stretch across endless cold, unfamiliar skies, and bad sleep. This was shorter, cleaner, still miserable because hauling a steel container through the sky with a legendary egg inside was never going to be pleasant, but not unbearable.
Ronnie slept for part of it.
Meowth did not.
He clung to a secured strap on top of the container and stared down at the ocean with wide eyes. He kept trying to narrow.
Anna sat near Enzo, wrapped in a dark coat, her tablet secured inside her bag for once. She looked tired but alert.
Enzo did not sleep.
He watched the horizon.
Before dawn fully broke, Hoenn appeared ahead of them.
Not as one clean shape, but as islands. Dark masses rising from the sea, volcanic and green, surrounded by broken coastline and humid clouds. From maps, Hoenn looked like a region of islands and sea routes. From above, it felt like the earth had boiled upward and let the ocean argue with it forever.
The moment Enzo saw it, something tightened behind his eyes.
It felt more like recognition. A faint pressure moved through him, distant and strange, as if some signal had traveled through bone instead of air. His fingers curled once against the cold metal beneath him, and a name surfaced before he could stop it.
He did not know why that was the first thing his mind reached for. Maybe because of Steven. Maybe because of the Mega Stones. Maybe because Hoenn was a region shaped so violently by legends that even the air still remembered them.
The sensation vanished, and the System stayed silent, making it feel worse.
Anna noticed his stillness. "Problem?"
"No."
She did not believe him.
She was getting better at that.
Enzo ignored and studied the land below. Hoenn was larger than most Kanto trainers imagined. From a distance, it had the softness of a tropical region, but the mountains, forests, and volcanic ridges made it feel older and less tame than the tourist brochures probably claimed.
They did not approach Slateport directly. Ports had manifests. Cities had cameras. Harbors had workers who noticed strange cargo even when they pretended not to. Instead, Enzo guided Corviknight toward a dense belt of vegetation away from the main coastal roads, where the trees grew thick enough to hide the container and the terrain broke the air's line of sight.
Porygon-Z fed him signal data through the TR Device as they descended.
Radar sweeps. Civilian communication density. League monitoring patterns. Weather interference. Every number became a route, and every route became a lie.
They landed in heavy greenery while the morning sun was still low. The container touched the ground with a controlled thud, and Ronnie slid off to stretch dramatically.
"Hoenn smells wet."
Meowth hopped down after him. "That's called humidity, genius."
"I know what humidity is."
"Do you?"
Ronnie thought about it. "Probably."
Anna climbed down more carefully, then immediately checked the surrounding area.
"Corviknight," Enzo said.
The steel bird lowered its head.
"You stay here with Anna, Ronnie, and Meowth. Guard the container. Nothing gets close."
Corviknight gave a low metallic caw.
Ronnie saluted. "We'll hold the fort."
"Good."
Enzo looked at Anna next. "No unnecessary contact. No fires. No visible Pokémon unless needed. If anything approaches, Ronnie handles intimidation first. Corviknight handles force second. You call me before either becomes necessary."
Anna nodded. "Understood."
Enzo took one last look at the container. The egg was stable, the cargo was hidden, and the first piece of Hoenn had been entered without anyone important noticing.
Now he needed the second piece: Legitimacy, which required Steven Stone.
He took off the tactical suit and put on his usual clothes, then lifted his TR Device. "Porygon-Z." The icon pulsed. "Teleport chain. Low visibility. Avoid cameras until final approach."
The response came as a clean digital pulse through the device. Porygon-Z mapped the route in fragments, avoiding cameras, radar sweeps, and civilian clusters. Enzo reviewed the path once, then looked toward Hypno inside the container.
"You assist the first three jumps. Then return here."
Hypno inclined its head.
As you command.
The first Teleport took him out of the clearing.
Reality folded with clean mechanical violence. For a heartbeat, the world became blue-white static, and Enzo felt nothing beneath his feet. No ground, no weight, no sky. Only absence.
His stomach tightened before the world returned.
He landed beside a dry creek bed under thick trees, and the memory of space clung to him for half a second longer than usual.
He ignored it.
The second jump placed him on a hillside. The third brought him to an abandoned service road. After that, Hypno returned to the container in a shimmer of psychic light, and Porygon-Z handled the rest.
By the time Enzo reached the edge of Mauville City, the sun had climbed higher, and the air had turned warm enough to cling to his skin.
Mauville was loud.
Not like Cerulean. Cerulean glittered. Saffron towered. Celadon sprawled. Viridian breathed forest at its edges. Mauville pulsed. Roads crossed through the city like arteries, bicycles cut between pedestrians, electric signs flickered above shops, vendors shouted over one another, and construction crews worked in the distance on something that already looked too ambitious for the city's current shape.
It smelled of hot pavement, machine oil, sweet fruit, and rain that had not fallen yet.
Enzo straightened his jacket and entered the crowd without his mask, wearing regular clothes and his public face.
People began noticing him before he had walked a full street.
Not everyone. Just enough. A woman selling drinks looked at him once, then again. A group of teenagers slowed as he passed. A man in a Devon work jacket whispered something to his colleague. Two girls near a shop window turned too quickly and pretended they had not.
Enzo kept walking as if he noticed none of it.
He noticed everything.
So even here, they still know my face.
Of course they did. He had publicly defeated Steven Stone, earning a reputation in Kanto. He promised to return to Hoenn for justice after Pallet Town, and the media highlighted his story because such tales are easy to sell.
Orphan. Prodigy. Hero. Avenger. These words are helpful—sometimes misleading, but still valuable.
A teenager near a vending machine stared at him with open recognition. "Is that…?"
His friend slapped his arm. "Don't be stupid."
Enzo passed them before the sentence could finish.
He found a quieter corner near the side of a department store, where foot traffic thinned enough for a call but remained public enough that standing there looked normal. Then he took out his phone.
Not the TR Device.
The regular phone.
He selected Steven Stone's contact.
Two rings.
Steven answered sooner than expected.
"Enzo?"
His voice was calm only for the first syllable. Then something shifted. There was a brief pause, not confusion exactly, but the sound of someone recognizing context before anyone had explained it.
"Why are you calling me from Hoenn?"
Enzo's mouth curved faintly. He had almost forgotten how sharp Steven could be when rocks were not distracting him.
"Steven," he said. "Where are you?"
Another pause.
"Don't tell me you're here."
"I'm in Mauville City."
"What?"
The polished calm cracked completely.
"You're already in Mauville?"
"I arrived this morning."
Steven inhaled slowly on the other end, the sound of a man reorganizing his entire schedule in real time.
"Stay where you are," Steven said. "Do not wander around. I'll send people to pick you up."
"I can move."
"I know you can move. That is exactly why I am telling you not to."
Enzo laughed.
"Fine," he said. "I'll wait."
"Send me your exact location."
Enzo did.
Steven's voice became businesslike again. "Ten minutes. Maybe less. And Enzo?"
"Yes?"
The line was quiet for a heartbeat.
"You should have warned me before entering the region."
Enzo looked at his reflection in the dark glass of a nearby shop.
No mask.
Young face.
Public hero.
"I know," he said.
Steven sighed. "No, you don't. Not yet."
The call ended.
Enzo lowered the phone and slipped it back into his pocket while Mauville continued moving around him. Vendors sold drinks. Cyclists rang bells. Trainers crossed the street with Poké Balls on their belts and clean dreams still shining in their eyes.
A man near the department store looked at Enzo again, this time long enough for uncertainty to become recognition.
"Wait," he whispered. "That's Enzo Vance."
The name began to move through the nearby street, passed from mouth to mouth in low voices. Not fast enough to become a crowd, but fast enough to prove that his public identity still had weight here.
Enzo looked toward Mauville's bright center and allowed himself the faintest smile.
Hoenn had no idea what had just landed on its shore.