Chapter 21: Joining the Rocket Team? And Becoming an Executive!

"Did I see that right? Join the Rocket Team? And actually have to become an Executive?!" Huo La muttered to himself instinctively, his heart pounding boom—boom, even his breathing fell out of rhythm.

He had originally thought the system would at most issue routine tasks like "investigation events" or "Gym challenges", and even if the difficulty rose, it would merely mean facing a few more Wild Pokemon or having stricter limits when challenging a Gym.

But the task before him completely overturned his understanding.

What kind of place is the Rocket Team? It is the notoriously illegal organization in the Pokemon World, committing arson, murder, looting, and every kind of evil; he crossed over hoping to be a righteous Trainer, not to become a villain!

What's even more absurd is that the mission target leapt from "ordinary member" to "Executive".

Huo La knew well that Rocket Team Executives are far from ordinary; lower‑rank members like Musashi and Kojiro that he had met before couldn't even brush the edge of an Executive—they were mere foot soldiers; true Executives not only possess strong power but also wield certain authority, and their hands are usually stained with plenty of Black Material.

Turning from an "outsider" into an Executive within a year is nothing short of a fairy‑tale!

"System, are you insane?!" Huo La couldn't help shouting in his mind, "Never mind that the Rocket Team is a villainous organization; just the idea of becoming an Executive in a year—I only have two Pokemon now, haven't even earned a Gym Badge, how could I possibly become an Executive? This task is basically impossible!"

He even wondered whether the system had malfunctioned, gone haywire, and deliberately shoved this "Hardship" task onto him.

After all, the rewards of opening System Points and the System Shop are indeed tempting—System Points can likely be used to boost a Pokemon's Su Xing and skill proficiency, and the System Shop might even contain rare items.

Yet the price of those rewards is stepping into the villain's quagmire, even standing opposite the League and people like Ash from then on; a slip that leads to disgrace is already light, while a severe fall could mean spending the rest of his life in a police station living a brand‑new existence.

Huo La stood by a street in Viridian City, trainers and townsfolk passing by shoulder to shoulder, each wearing a relaxed smile, yet he felt a chill run through his whole body.

He looked down at the Pokeball at his waist; his goal was to become an excellent Trainer, not to join a villainous organization.

"No way, this task is absolutely unacceptable!" Huo La clenched his teeth, about to tell the system in his mind "abandon task", but suddenly recalled the earlier "Punishment Mechanism": even complaining can cause the task difficulty to spike, and abandoning this "Continuous Task" outright might truly force him to restart from scratch.

He forced himself to calm down and began thinking rapidly: why would the system issue such a task? Pure "Hardship" or something deeper? Does the Rocket Team have exploitable loopholes? For example… could he feign joining, claim the reward, then look for a chance to Defect?

But soon, he discarded that idea.

How strict Rocket Team control is, Huo La knows better than anyone; once you become a member, trying to leave is essentially courting death—lightly you get hunted, severely you might be treated as a "discarded pawn".

In his memory, only two people ever successfully left the Rocket Team: one was Xiao San Lang, the other Ya Ma Duo. But… there was no account of how they exited, offering no reference value at all.

Let alone the goal of "becoming an Executive", which means he must deeply engage in the Rocket Team's core affairs, likely staining his hands with a "Stain"; by then, even if he wanted to return, the League would never accept someone who once held a high position in the Rocket Team.

His fingers clenched the hem of his shirt so tightly the fabric crumpled into a lump, his nails nearly embedding into his palm, yet he felt no pain—his mind filled with weighing the task's pros and cons.

The one‑year deadline hung over his head like a sharp sword, while System Points and System Shop rewards beckoned like magnets; accepting the task meant betraying his original desire to be a "righteous Trainer", and the consequences of refusal were an unknown abyss.

After a long while, Huo La slowly released his grip, inhaled deeply, and a self‑mocking smile tugged his mouth: "Fine, overthinking won't help; let's take it one step at a time."

He forced himself to stay calm and began sorting the known information.

Viridian City itself is an excellent breakthrough point; the city is not only a key hub of the Kanto Region, its Gym is also one of the strongest Gyms in all of Kanto, and the Gym Leader Sakaki is precisely the Rocket Team's hidden mastermind.

That very role is rife with contradictions and exploitable opportunities—Sakaki outwardly is a League‑approved Gym Leader, maintaining a "fair and powerful" image; secretly he controls a massive illegal organization as its boss, crazily amassing wealth and research through his double identity.

Huo La could even guess that Sakaki uses his Gym Leader status to meet trainers nationwide, gather Pokemon intelligence, then employs Rocket Team forces to plunder resources; the wealth amassed over years could truly be described as "rich enough to rival a nation."

More crucially, the Rocket Team differs entirely from organizations like Team Magma or Skull Team that only know destruction.

It possesses a tight hierarchical structure, a massive intelligence network, and robust resource reserves, even capable of developing artificial Pokemon like Mewtwo. Such an organization may seem hard to join, but it actually values "worth"—as long as one can demonstrate sufficient utility, even an outsider can have a chance at promotion.

"Perhaps… I don't actually need to 'Defect'." A thought flashed in Huo La's mind, "The system only demands 'becoming an Executive', it doesn't say I must be loyal to the Rocket Team. If I can leverage some 'value' to have Sakaki voluntarily promote me to Executive, claim the System Reward, and then find a way to leave, could that work?"

For example, using his status as a time‑traveler, he could pre‑emptively disclose certain "Future Information" to Sakaki—such as the habitat of a Rare Pokemon, or details of an upcoming League operation.

Given Sakaki's ambition, as long as the information is valuable enough, he would certainly value Huo La, perhaps even grant him the "Executive" title to win him over.

Of course, the risk is enormous—if Sakaki discovers that his utility has vanished, or senses his ulterior motives, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Yet compared to the unknown punishment of outright refusing the task, or blindly joining the Rocket Team as a low‑rank member, this seems the only viable way out.

Huo La steadied himself, looked up toward the direction of Viridian City's Gym—the imposing building stood in the city center like a coiled giant beast. He tightened his grip on the Pokeball at his waist, turned and headed toward the Pokemon Center: "I'll rest first, then scout around the Gym. At the very least I need to find out whether Sakaki is currently inside the Gym."