Chapter 177: This debt, Team Flare has noted it!

Inside the abandoned warehouse, the incandescent light flickered on and off, casting a cold glow on the piles of gravel on the floor.

A Ke Bi, with her short orange hair, glared at her two subordinates, her tone full of impatience: "Trash! After searching for so long, you still haven't found that masked brat?"

"Lady A Ke Bi, this is Kanto, after all; we don't have an intelligence network to support us," one subordinate stammered in defense. "The target concealed their face and figure, and we only confirmed it was a female; it's really impossible to track them further..."

"Shut up! Don't make excuses!" A Ke Bi slammed the table, causing cracks to instantly appear on the solid wood surface. She then asked sternly, "Have the Mega Stones in this area been searched thoroughly?"

The other subordinate hurriedly stepped forward, holding a heavy metal safe with both hands: "Lady A Ke Bi, Kanto is not like Kalos; the number of scattered Mega Stones is truly scarce. We turned the area around Twinleaf Town upside down and only found these few; they are all here."

A Ke Bi snatched the safe and unlocked it with a "click." Inside lay three faintly glowing Mega Stones, their colors dim, the quantity far below her expectations.

"Have you confirmed the Pokémon these three correspond to?" She frowned, her tone still dissatisfied.

"Confirmed, Lady A Ke Bi." A secretary-like person beside her, wearing black-rimmed glasses and holding a tablet, stepped forward and replied respectfully, "They are the Mega Stones for Blastoise, Pidgeot, and Alakazam, respectively."

"Tch, useless trash, none of them are usable." A Ke Bi sneered, slamming the safe shut, her tone full of contempt. "As expected, things produced in this place called Kanto are all low-class garbage."

"Whether things from Kanto are garbage or not is not for you people from Kalos to judge."

A cold voice suddenly rang out from the shadows of the warehouse, breaking the heavy atmosphere inside.

"Who?!" A Ke Bi stood up abruptly, her hand on the Poké Ball at her waist, her sharp gaze instantly sweeping toward the source of the voice.

On top of the abandoned shipping containers in the corner of the warehouse, two black shadows stood, appearing out of nowhere. One wore a pure black mask, the Team Rocket "R" emblem on their chest glowing a scarlet red in the dim light;

The other was wrapped in a black windcoat, their hat pulled extremely low, revealing only a fair chin.

The Pokémon originally scattered and waiting in the warehouse instantly became agitated, surrounding them and baring their teeth.

A Ke Bi tapped the infrared goggles on the bridge of her nose, a red light flashing across the lenses, yet she still couldn't see their faces clearly. She sneered, "Hiding your heads and showing your tails, you brats dare to meddle in Team Flare's affairs?"

"Heh." Huo La chuckled softly and leaped down from the container, landing silently, with Bilan following closely behind, her footsteps equally light.

He spread his hands, his tone playful. "Team Flare of Kalos, barging into my Team Rocket's territory to run wild without even a greeting—what is this supposed to mean?"

"Hm? Team Rocket?"

Hearing these three words, the disdain on A Ke Bi's face instantly faded, replaced by a hint of solemnity. She re-examined the emblem on Huo La's chest and asked in a deep voice, "You are from Team Rocket?"

"Naturally." Huo La nodded, deliberately lowering his voice to imitate the tone of Chakra from his memory. "Team Rocket, Chakra."

Bilan behind him was slightly startled, not expecting Huo La to directly impersonate the name of a Team Rocket Captain.

Opposite them, A Ke Bi's expression changed drastically, her eyes filled with a bit more wariness. "To think it is Lord Chakra, one of the Team Rocket Captains, who has come in person. It is I, A Ke Bi, who has been negligent."

"Since Lady A Ke Bi, one of the five leading scientists of Team Flare, has come to Kanto in person, our Team Rocket naturally must provide a 'reception' of corresponding standards." Huo La deliberately emphasized the word "reception," the warning in his tone self-evident.

"I wonder what advice Captain Chakra has for visiting so late at night?" A Ke Bi restrained her arrogance and asked tentatively.

"Advice is not the word." Huo La walked forward slowly, his gaze falling on the safe beside A Ke Bi, his tone cold. "That is a question I should be asking you—Lady A Ke Bi, traveling thousands of miles from Kalos to Kanto, what exactly is it for?"

A Ke Bi subconsciously reached out to press down on the safe, her body leaning forward slightly, clearly valuing what was inside immensely.

Huo La caught her small movement, the corners of his mouth curling into a cold smile. "Oh? It seems it is for what's in the box?"

"What, does Captain Chakra want to rob us?" A Ke Bi's eyes sharpened, her hand already gripping a Poké Ball.

"Your things?" Huo La chuckled as if he had heard a huge joke. "Since when does Team Flare get to call the shots on everything in this Kanto territory? Leave the Mega Stones, and I can pretend you just stumbled in by mistake and let you leave."

"You actually know about Mega Stones!" A Ke Bi was stunned, then as if thinking of something, her face instantly turned ugly. "That masked woman, is she from your Team Rocket?"

"Only reacting now, isn't it too late?" Huo La's eyes narrowed, and he shouted loudly, "Salandit, do it!"

Before the words fell, a figure suddenly darted out from the shadows in the corner of the warehouse; it was Salandit, who had been lurking there all along. It opened its mouth and spewed out dense poison gas, followed immediately by a spark. The poison gas instantly ignited into blue flames upon contact with the fire, sweeping toward A Ke Bi and the others.

"Not good!" A Ke Bi exclaimed, subconsciously wanting to command her Pokémon to defend, but the flames were already closing in. She could only hurriedly retract her hand from the safe and retreat repeatedly.

Just in this chaos, a verdant vine whip suddenly darted out from the darkness, precisely wrapping around the handle of the safe, pulling it back violently and dragging the heavy box into the shadows.

"Go get the box back!" A Ke Bi was both shocked and angry, ordering sternly.

The two subordinates immediately released their Pokémon, about to chase toward the shadows.

But before they could act, a huge cyan figure suddenly blocked their path; it was Muk. It opened its mouth wide, and poison bombs condensed with highly toxic substances rained down like a machine gun, forcing the two to retreat repeatedly, unable to advance a single step.

Seeing this, A Ke Bi was burning with rage, turning her head to attack Huo La and Bilan.

But when she looked up, where were the two figures in the center of the warehouse?

Only those Pokémon that had originally surrounded the two were left, all in chaos, attacking each other, a complete mess.

"Team Rocket... Chakra..." A Ke Bi gritted her teeth, her eyes full of resentment. "This debt, I, Team Flare, have noted it!" ===== CHAPTER 178 =====