Time arrived at the next day.
"Damian, Damian, I miss you~"
"Okay, okay, okay, I miss you too."
Early in the morning, Damian saw a voice message Rosa had sent him.
That delicate, sweet, and sugary tone made Damian unable to stop himself from shivering. It was really a bit too high-pitched and forced.
"Hmph~ That's so half-hearted. Damian, have you already reached Kalos?"
"Yes. Look at this, the famous Prism Tower of Lumiose City."
Damian smiled and sent a picture over.
"Wow! It's so spectacular. I want to see it with my own eyes too. Damian, Damian~ When are you going to fight Team Flare in the Kalos region? There are no villain teams to fight here in Unova. It's so boring."
"Aren't you going to become the Unova Champion? Aren't you preparing for the Vertress Conference? Do more special training."
Damian couldn't help but find it a little funny.
"Do you have any Champion-level Pokémon in your main team? I'm telling you, Platinum is about to become a Champion-level trainer soon."
"Tsk~ Don't look down on people. My Hydreigon and Serperior are already Champion-level, okay? My other main Pokémon are almost there too."
Rosa pouted her small lips, very dissatisfied. A mere Platinum—she would definitely suppress her personally!
"Oh, not bad." Damian raised an eyebrow. It seemed Rosa really hadn't been lazy, and her strength was improving quickly.
"The battle to suppress Team Flare here in Kalos will probably have to wait for a while. This time will definitely be more exciting than the one in Sinnoh, so don't be in a hurry."
Damian said with a smile.
"Yay! Then I'll be waiting. Hehe~ Actually, it's mainly because I miss you, Damian. Do you want to video chat tonight?"
"We'll see. Let's not talk for now. I'm going to eat breakfast."
Damian felt a bit overwhelmed. This Rosa was really too proactive, and she was very good at it.
Last time, she had asked to video chat at night, and when he answered, her loose white pajamas left far too much on display.
Rosa really was bold.
After ending the short chat with Rosa, Damian came to the dining room of the villa, preparing to eat breakfast.
He couldn't see Caitlin. Either she was still sleeping for her beauty rest, or she was in the backyard doing special training for her Pokémon.
However, it was already ten o'clock now, so she should have woken up on her own.
Caitlin was really hardworking. He often saw her doing special training on ordinary days.
"Mr. Damian, Mr. Gladion's investigation has results," Platinum said to Damian.
"Oh? Tell me about it."
Damian took a sip of milk. Jirachi, who had sleepy eyes, bit into a piece of bread. Its head nodded up and down as if it would fall asleep at any second.
Victini, who was nearby, watched closely at all times to prevent this star-head from banging its head into Damian's dinner plate.
"According to a researcher caught from Lysandre Labs, Team Flare has been searching for a creature called a Zygarde Core. Moreover, they have currently caught one and are conducting research."
Platinum's face was quite serious.
"And according to the myths and legends of the Kalos region, Zygarde is the Legendary Pokémon of order. It is responsible for monitoring the ecosystem of the Kalos region. It is a very powerful Legendary Pokémon."
"Team Flare wants to control Zygarde!"
Without a doubt, it must be like this. Otherwise, why would Team Flare catch a Zygarde Core?
"Hmm. Then Platinum, what do you think?" Damian nodded.
"I think Team Flare's purpose is definitely not simple. They must be carrying out an unknown plan."
Platinum thought for a moment, but she still couldn't figure out Team Flare's specific goal. After all, she didn't understand this person, Lysandre, at all.
According to the data, Lysandre used to be a very kind man, and now he is a successful leader. At least, one couldn't see what he wanted to do just from the surface.
Well, it was just that Lysandre often talked about a beautiful and better world, which was a bit concerning.
"Then continue the investigation. By the way, how did Gladion convince that researcher to give up the information?"
Damian was in no hurry to tell Platinum about Team Flare's final goal. Otherwise, with Platinum's character, she would probably want to rush into Team Flare right now to capture Lysandre.
After all, in the end, Platinum was also a kind girl.
"Emmm... It's said that Mr. Gladion had a subordinate use an Arbok to intimidate that researcher."
Platinum's face was a bit strange and embarrassed as she replied in a low voice.
Actually, she had also asked Gladion this question at the time. After all, someone who could have access to the Zygarde Core plan must be a high-level researcher at Lysandre Labs. How could he betray Lysandre so easily?
But according to Gladion, he had a subordinate use an Arbok to directly swallow the researcher slowly into its stomach, then spit him out, then swallow him again, repeating the cycle.
What a shock!
The man had watched with his own eyes as the Arbok opened its huge mouth and slowly swallowed him. His skin could even feel the mucous membrane of the Arbok's internal cavity.
In the end, that researcher, who was covered in stomach acid, begged for mercy while vomiting and successfully turned against them.
Finally, Gladion threw a bank card with a lot of money to this researcher and let him go home.
Well, it could only be said that Mr. Gladion understood how to make people surrender. It was simple and crude.
But it worked very well.
"It seems Gladion indeed has methods now. I'm becoming more and more at ease with how he handles things," Damian said with emotion.
"Yes. Having such a high-level researcher as an internal contact is too beneficial for us to obtain information about Team Flare."
Although the methods Gladion used were hard to praise, having such an undercover agent was indeed very convenient.
"That's right. By the way, have you contacted Serena?"
"I've already contacted her. I knew you would be very concerned about Miss Serena, Mr. Damian, so I chatted with her for a while last night."
Platinum winked playfully and cutely at Damian.
"I've already made an appointment. We can have her take us on a tour of Lumiose City today. When the time comes, you can try to recruit Miss Serena, Mr. Damian."
"Actually, I still prefer a simpler way. Her family is in Vaniville Town, right?"
Damian thought for a moment and said what was in his heart.
Wanting to convince Serena to join Team Rocket would probably take a lot of effort. However, there was a simpler and more practical way.
Serena, your mom is in Vaniville Town, right? If you don't want anything to happen to your mom...
Although this method was a bit shameless and evil, you had to say that this move was absolutely effective against a good child like Serena.
"Mr. Damian, doing that will leave a very bad impression on Serena. Miss Serena is clearly so cute and beautiful."
As soon as she saw Damian's expression and tone, Platinum instantly recalled some very bad memories. She couldn't help but speak to Damian gloomily.
It was enough to do this kind of thing to her once. Was he actually going to do it to Serena too?
Most importantly...
"Besides, this is at least the special way Mr. Damian and I met. Mr. Damian, how can you use it on another girl again?"
Well, ever since she accepted her identity in Team Rocket, Platinum had always believed that the way she met Damian and joined Team Rocket was very special.
The impression was very strong—so strong that even now, she couldn't help but smile when she thought back on it.
"Tsk~ Platinum, can I understand this as you being jealous?"
Damian couldn't help but laugh, looking at Platinum humorously.
Hearing this, Platinum was a bit embarrassed, but she remained silent, expressing her attitude in this way.
"Since you say so, Platinum, let's change the method. Our Team Rocket is a proper organization, right?"
Seeing this, Damian changed his tone and said to Platinum with a smile.
It didn't matter. Regarding pulling Serena into the organization, he didn't think it was particularly difficult in the first place.
After all, Serena's character was naturally quite competitive.
"Mhm~!"
Hearing this, Platinum was delighted. A big smile bloomed on her face.
She was very happy and enjoyed Damian's disguised doting.
Mr. Damian is so nice~!
Meanwhile, Damian began to think about the upcoming itinerary.
When coming to Kalos, besides developing Team Rocket, the most important thing was to get in touch with Hoopa!
Hoopa Confined!
Hoopa Confined now lived in Arche Valley. Its current "caretakers" were the siblings Baraz and Meray.
Wanting to capture Hoopa Confined probably wouldn't be easy. After all, the relationship between Hoopa Confined and the Baraz siblings was too close. Now, both sides could be said to be as close as family.
He could give it a try, but there was no need to force it.
As long as he could build a good relationship with Hoopa Confined and the Baraz siblings, wanting Hoopa to help in the future would just be a matter of one sentence.
After all, as a Pokémon, Hoopa itself also liked excitement and fighting very much.
The main reason was that Hoopa was really too useful. With its spatial rings, it could go anywhere it wanted. It could also fetch all sorts of things at will, even fetching people and Pokémon. It was simply invincible.
Moreover, the Hoopa Unbound shadow was also a very interesting point that he had to get involved with.
Besides Hoopa, Diancie, whom Damian also liked very much, was also from the Kalos region. This little princess of the Diamond Domain was both cute and capable of fighting; she was worth capturing.
However, there was currently no news of Diancie's whereabouts. He still had to find the location of the Diamond Domain first.
After finishing breakfast, he called Caitlin, who was doing special training, and the three of them went out together again.
But shortly after they went out, they ran into an acquaintance.
"Yo~ Miss Diantha, what a coincidence."
Damian raised an eyebrow, looking at Diantha walking over from not far away.
Looking at the direction Diantha was heading, her destination seemed to be his villa. In that case, there was no need to think about it. This was definitely not a coincidence.
It seemed Diantha had come specifically to find him.
"Mr. Damian, how did you rest here last night?"
Diantha asked with a smile and a gentle voice.
"Very well. Does Miss Diantha have something on her mind? You can speak directly."
"In that case, I'll get straight to the point."
Hearing this, Diantha took a silent breath.
"I know you are the leader of Team Rocket, Mr. Damian. I have specifically come on behalf of the Kalos League to talk with you. As long as you can guarantee not to do anything too excessive here in Kalos, you can state your demands."
Diantha spoke to Damian seriously.
She had thought about it for a long time last night and decided to give Damian the greatest respect. After all, she really didn't have much confidence to negotiate terms with Damian.
"Oh? I want to know, what counts as 'too excessive'? And..."
The corners of Damian's mouth slowly curled up as he looked up and down at the Kalos Champion in front of him.
"Any demand I make is fine?"
Since she put it that way, he just had to make a demand.
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