Chapter 219: Sudden Contact

"Huo La, you let Bilan go to Johto alone, aren't you afraid she will encounter danger on the way?"

Early the next morning, just as the sky was getting light, outside the Pokémon Center in Cinnabar Town, Xiao Gang and Huo La had already packed their luggage and were ready to set off, their target pointing straight to Viridian City in the Kanto region.

Xiao Gang looked at the direction Bilan left, still unable to help worrying.

Huo La glanced at him sideways, his tone carrying a hint of relaxation but also firmness: "Xiao Gang, you are a bit too worried. Before meeting us, she drifted alone in Kanto, didn't she live not too badly? Instead, after traveling with us, she became a bit 'delicate' from being taken care of."

He paused and added: "Rest assured, I gave her a sum of money. With her cleverness, as long as she doesn't actively provoke big trouble, she definitely won't have any problems. Instead, it's us. The next place we are going to is Viridian City. We must seize the time on the road to train our Pokémon well and improve our strength."

Xiao Gang was silent for a moment after hearing this.

If it were before, he might not have known what Viridian City meant, but now he had long understood that the most dangerous secret in the entire Kanto region was hidden there, and behind the Viridian Gym was the core force of Team Rocket.

"Really don't consider... asking the League or the police for help?" Xiao Gang hesitated, but still said his thoughts.

"How to handle it?" Huo La spread his hands helplessly, his tone carrying a hint of self-mockery: "Not to mention that we can't produce any evidence to prove that Viridian City is the base of Team Rocket, nor can we prove that Viridian Gym Leader Giovanni is the boss of Team Rocket. Just talking about Team Rocket's power, I'm afraid we would report to the police in the front, and be 'snapped' silently by people in the back."

Saying that, Huo La also made a neck-slitting gesture, his tone relaxed, but a hint of solemnity hidden in his eyes.

Xiao Gang fell into silence again. What Huo La said was the truth.

Team Rocket had been operating in Kanto for many years, its power had long been intertwined, and it might even have infiltrated the interior of the League and the police. Asking for help rashly would not only fail to solve the problem but would also startle the snake and bring about a killing disaster.

Seeing Xiao Gang's worried appearance, Huo La patted his shoulder, smiling to ease the atmosphere: "Rest assured, nothing will happen. If Team Rocket really wanted to do something to me, they wouldn't have to wait specifically for me to go to Viridian City."

He changed the subject, his eyes becoming serious: "However, to deal with the variables ahead, we still have to seize every moment to improve our strength. After all, only our own strength is the most reliable bottom card."

As the words fell, Huo La pointed to the road in the distance, his tone firm: "Let's go, leave Cinnabar Town first."

On the other side, three embarrassed figures were hanging on a high tree branch, exactly the Team Rocket trio who had been blasted into the sky by Pikachu's Thunderbolt again.

"Pah! Why are we so unlucky every time..." Jessie's voice carried obvious trembling, half of her hair was blown up by electricity, and her face was white and black.

"It's all Meowth's fault! The broken machine it tinkered with can't even do basic anti-electricity. It explodes as soon as it's shocked!" James struggled to peel off the tree branches wrapped around his head, weakly echoing, his clothes still emitting wisps of black smoke.

"Meow! What does this have to do with me, meow!" Meowth jumped onto the slender branch abruptly, so angry that its whiskers were curled up: "I let you two use foot power to drive the machine, you complained it was tiring and didn't want to, so you had to use an electric motor! Electric drive has the risk of short-circuit explosion, meow!"

The three were throwing the pot at each other, when suddenly, a rapid "beep beep beep" sound came from Meowth.

Meowth was stunned, then took out a small communicator from some pocket behind it, and pressed the answer button in a panic.

The next second, a familiar but abnormally weak voice came from the communicator: "Meowth?"

Hearing this voice, Jessie and James, who were still bickering, froze instantly. The two looked at each other, actually standing on the tree branch with an agile posture that didn't match their embarrassed appearance, "swish," not even daring to breathe.

"G-Giovanni boss!" Meowth's voice carried a hint of trembling, its claws gripping the communicator tightly.

The voice on the other side of the communicator laughed at itself, its breath weak as if it would break at any time: "I didn't expect that this little calling gadget I gave you casually back then has now become my last help."

Meowth keenly sensed that something was wrong on the opposite side, its heart skipped a beat, and it hurriedly asked urgently: "Boss! What happened to you? Did something happen, meow!"

"Meowth, listen clearly to what happens next..." Giovanni's voice carried a burst of short gasps, his words intermittent and weak, but before he could finish his instructions, a harsh electric current sound came from the communicator, and then it went silent completely.

"Boss! Boss!" Meowth called out urgently to the communicator several times, but there was only dead silence on the other side.

For a long time, it lowered its claws dejectedly, its voice solemn: "Boss is in trouble, meow."

"Impossible!" Jessie smoothed her frizzy long hair, full of disbelief: "Team Rocket headquarters is heavily guarded, what kind of impregnable place is that, how could the boss be in trouble? It can't be that the League attacked, maybe it's just bad signal, he just hung up by accident!"

James rarely used his brain, his brows locked: "I think Meowth's guess might be right."

"Hmm?" Jessie and Meowth looked at him at the same time.

"Jessie, think about it carefully," James lowered his voice, "Every time the boss contacted us, wasn't it scolding us? Like today, being calm, even weak and asking us for help, is the first time. And the line was cut before he finished speaking. This is absolutely wrong."

"Right! The boss's voice in my memory has never been so weak, even his breath was chaotic, meow!" Meowth immediately echoed, its claws gripping tighter.

Jessie's eyes rolled, suddenly an excited light flashed in her eyes, and she stomped on the tree branch under her feet twice: "Good! Since it's the boss who asked us for help, then we'll go! If this matter is done, maybe the boss will be happy and wipe out all the debts we owe!"

As soon as her words fell, only a crisp "crack" sound was heard, and the tree branch under her feet that was already precarious was completely broken!

The three and the cat looked at each other instantly, followed by three screams that rose and fell one after another, accompanied by the muffled sound of heavy objects falling to the ground, echoing in the forest for a long time.

After the dust settled, only the three were seen falling into a ball, only Meowth still maintaining the posture of gripping the communicator: "Meow..." ===== CHAPTER 220 =====