Chapter 458: Reliable Rocket Team

Huo La did not immediately respond to Bike's cooperation proposal; his fingertips unconsciously twitched, and his mind raced to weigh the pros and cons.

A moment later, he slowly lifted his head, his gaze calmly fixed on Bike: "I have less than half a month left, which is still enough. Tell me your concrete plan."

Bike paid no mind to the boy's unusually mature composure, nor did she mind the unassailable certainty in his tone, and she spoke at once: "Lillie and Gladio are being relentlessly hunted by the Aether Foundation because they took two key Pokémon—Little Nebula and Type: Null."

"Lusamine's goal has always relied on those two Pokémon to open the Ultimate Abyss."

Huo La's eyes suddenly narrowed, his expression growing more solemn.

Although Type: Null is rare, its creation process is complex.

But Little Nebula is different—it is the legendary Cosmic Pokémon offspring of Suo Er Jia Lei Ou and Lunala, its power unfathomable; it was unexpected that Lillie quietly took it, so it's no wonder Lusamine pursues it so relentlessly.

"My plan is," Bike paused, then continued, "Professor Kukui takes Gladio on a tour of the islands; we don't need to intervene, just let them follow the plan—their actions will conveniently distract the Aether Foundation."

"And using this window, I need you to cooperate with me to launch a surprise attack on Aether Paradise, seize Zha'aobo and Lusamine directly, and cut off the Aether Foundation's core command."

"Is it really that simple?" Huo La raised an eyebrow, his tone carrying some doubt; a plan that goes straight for the core looks tidy, yet it feels too reckless.

"No, it's not simple at all." Bike shook her head lightly, her expression growing even more serious, "If it were just a power grab, with my influence in the Aether Foundation I'd have acted already. The key is that behind Zha'aobo and Lusamine hides a mysterious entity, and because of that entity we've never dared to act rashly, not even to monitor them overtly."

Beside them, Paipa couldn't help but interject, his face full of confusion: "That's not right. Before I came, I saw the news saying that Zha'aobo controls Alola, and that Zha'aobo is a time‑traveler. But according to what you said, Zha'aobo is only one of the Aether Foundation's administrators, not the real ruler?"

Huo La gently shook his head, a hint of understanding flashing in his eyes, and slowly speculated: "The news is correct; Zha'aobo is indeed a traveler, and he does openly control Alola."

"But I guess the person behind Zha'aobo and Lusamine is also Zha'aobo—just a Zha'aobo from another Parallel World."

Bike heard that, didn't immediately agree, but fell into thought, her fingertips lightly tapping the table; after a moment she slowly shook her head: "I don't know if it's a Zha'aobo from another world; I've never seen that mysterious being, not even heard his voice."

"As for the news, I always thought it was Lusamine deliberately releasing a smoke bomb, aiming to keep Zha'aobo in front."

"Fine, none of that matters." Huo La cut off the speculation about the mastermind, his tone crisp, "When do we act?"

Bike pondered for a moment, just as she was about to speak, the sky outside the window suddenly changed color.

The once clear, deep blue was visibly overtaken by an eerie dark‑purple, twisted fissures flickered across the heavens, and a cold, viscous Time‑Space Fluctuation poured down like a tide from the sky, pressing so heavily that people could barely breathe.

Bike's complexion turned deathly pale, and the Rotom Phone in her pocket shot out, its screen flashing blinding red light, a sharp alarm pierced the cabin's silence: "Warning! Warning! High‑intensity Time‑Space Fluctuation detected! An inter‑world portal is forming! Energy levels keep soaring!"

Everyone's expression changed, and they rushed out of the house at once.

"What… what is this? Did the Aether Foundation create it?" Bike instinctively covered her mouth, staring at the sky above like shattered glass, her voice trembling with disbelief.

"No! It's definitely not from our lab!" Bike's fingers flew across the Rotom screen, pulling up the island's energy monitoring data, her tone urgent, "The particle‑channel device shows no output! The source of this energy is on Akala Island! Coordinates… it's the abandoned base the Rocket Team left years ago!"

"Rocket Team?!" Huo La and Neimu Boshi exclaimed in unison, a flash of astonishment in their eyes.

Meanwhile, the Rocket Team's abandoned base on Akala Island had already turned into a desolate ruin.

"Pah! Pah pah! Miao Miao, what the heck are you doing!" Musashi crawled out of the rubble, spitting out dust and grit, a few splinters still clinging to his hair.

Kojiro also strained to lift a concrete slab pressing on him, breathing with lingering shock: "That was close… If Gyarados hadn't shielded me with its body just now, I'd probably have been smashed into a meat patty."

Beside them, Miao Miao was equally dust‑covered; she shook off the stones on her, her gaze fixed on the twisted, smoking metal device not far away, her face full of frustration and shock.

It had originally thought that the machine left by Banmu Laoda was a tremendously powerful secret weapon that, once activated, could wipe out pursuers in one blow and reclaim control of the base.

But who could have imagined the device's power was so terrifying—its recoil from emitting energy alone collapsed the entire underground base.

It wasn't until then that Miao Miao finally understood why the Rocket Team, when they evacuated years ago, left such a "crucial" thing here.

It wasn't that they didn't want to move it; the thing simply couldn't be moved.

"Pah! This dump…" Musashi brushed the thick dust off himself, about to continue complaining, when his gaze was suddenly fixed on the distant sea scene, his words cutting off and even his hand froze.

Kojiro also climbed out, following her line of sight, and instantly inhaled a cold breath.

There, where sea meets sky, a massive black fissure spanned the ocean surface, the surrounding space warped like a crumpled, forcibly stretched grid, twisted beyond recognition.

The deep‑blue sea was violently sucked by an invisible force into the fissure's depths, even the sunlight bent into eerie angles, emitting a chilling breath that made hearts race.

"Particle collisions… shattered the spatial barrier." Miao Miao's face instantly grew extremely solemn, her voice trembling, "It's over now, Meow… we have no idea which world's Time‑Space portal this thing opened!"