Team Rocket’s Second-in-Command!

Faced with Giovanni's genuine warmth and generosity, Leon couldn't help but feel a wave of guilt wash over him. After all, Rose and Macro Cosmos had just been scheming to use this crisis to grab a slice of the Kanto market.

As Galar's League Champion, Leon felt downright ashamed.

"Then I'll be counting on you, Mr. Giovanni."

Leon didn't turn down the offer.

Although Eternatus had been taken care of, Galar now had an even more complicated problem on its hands — Team Rocket.

They'd come all the way here planning to help Kanto deal with Team Rocket, only for Team Rocket to bypass them entirely and hijack their own home turf.

Leon had seen the footage too. Even for him, watching that battle between the tech hunter and Eternatus was nothing short of awe-inspiring. He knew he couldn't take on Team Rocket alone — Giovanni's offer to send Luo Yuan to help was a godsend.

"Leon... what about the League Council?" Raihan asked, hesitating mid-sentence.

Leon shook his head.

There's no time to worry about the council now.

The Pokémon League had never been a tightly regulated organization. Even when the League Council issued directives, each regional League still had to respond according to its own situation.

So without lingering in Kanto, Leon, Raihan, and the remaining Galar trainers quickly boarded a return flight home.

---

Meanwhile, in Johto, Lance — who had been gearing up for an all-out assault on Team Rocket — fell silent when he received the news.

Even the best-laid plans fall apart.

They'd finally gotten a real chance to take on Team Rocket — and just like that, their reinforcements were gone, taking Luo Yuan with them.

Who knew how long he'd be staying in Galar?

Comparing the firepower Luo Yuan had just displayed in Galar to the forces he himself had available… Lance could only let out a long, weary sigh.

Can't win like this.

He looked around the conference room at Koga, Erika, and Morty, then finally said, "Call it off. Operation postponed. We'll wait for further notice."

He might have said "further notice," but deep down, Lance knew the truth: if they missed this window, the next opportunity to strike at Team Rocket might not come for a long time.

The other three exchanged glances. In their eyes, there was only one thought:

As expected of Luo Yuan…

---

"Dragonite, [Brick Break]!"

At Luo Yuan's command, the towering Dragonite drove a fist into the massive boulder sealing off the entrance to the mineshaft.

Crack!

A web of fractures spread instantly from the point of impact.

BOOM—

The boulder shattered into rubble, revealing the entrance behind it.

The moment it gave way, the Galar League trainers behind him erupted in cheers. They wasted no time sending out Pokémon to begin clearing the debris.

Ten minutes later, the trapped miners began emerging, supported by Machamps and other Pokémon.

These were survivors from the Darkest Day incident.

Back when the crisis hit, many Coalossal in the mines had gone berserk under the influence of [Dynamax] energy. In their rampage, they brought down parts of the mineshaft and trapped workers inside.

The debris from the collapse was too massive to remove by normal means. Roads were damaged, and heavy rescue equipment couldn't get through.

And with Leon having taken a team of trainers away, the Galar League was stretched thin. In desperation, Oleana had turned to Luo Yuan for help.

As a responsible and capable Elite Four member, Luo Yuan hadn't hesitated. This was already the fifth batch of miners he'd rescued.

He accepted the miners' heartfelt thanks with a small smile, then turned to the League liaison beside him and asked, "Any more?"

To him, this kind of rescue work didn't even count as a warm-up.

Hearing Luo Yuan's question, the liaison—who had been gazing at him with starry-eyed admiration—quickly flipped through her notes.

"There's one more group, over at Mine No. 2. A few miners are still trapped underground..."

"Got it. Leave it to me."

Before she even finished, Luo Yuan was already vaulting onto Dragonite's back. In the blink of an eye, he vanished into the sky—leaving behind a team of dumbfounded yet awestruck onlookers.

...

After finishing a full day of rescue work, Luo Yuan returned to Team Rocket's new base of operations.

Using Giratina's Distortion World, he'd led his team out of Hammerlocke unnoticed. At this point, the Galar League still had no idea that Team Rocket had established a fully operational base right under their noses.

He had also quietly brought Rose along when they left.

Originally, Luo Yuan had considered dumping Rose into the Distortion World to keep Cyrus company, but as the president of Macro Cosmos, Rose likely had access to a lot of valuable information.

So for now, Luo Yuan had decided to keep him detained at the Team Rocket base.

"Still not talking?"

At the prison wing, Luo Yuan asked the question even before his subordinate could speak—he could already tell by the man's awkward expression.

The grunt nodded. "He said he won't say a word until he sees you in person."

"Tch... Fine, I'll meet with him. He is the president of Macro Cosmos, after all."

With that, Luo Yuan pushed open the door and walked in.

---

Every 100 Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter.

100ps = 1 chp

200ps = 2 chp

300ps = 3 chp

etc.