Chapter 179: My Team Rocket Has Added Another Great General!

The "Haji-Suicune" has been slapped in the face again.

Watching Suicune, who had already begun hissing at Weavile with its fur standing on end, Mamen wore a rather strange expression.

He didn't know why, but every time he used Suicune in battle, the probability of Suicune getting slapped by Fake Out was shockingly high.

Although he could understand it, after all, Annihilape had the Ghost type, and the Normal-type Fake Out couldn't hit it.

But... it was just very funny.

"Brick Break."

Suicune was hit by Fake Out and could not counterattack immediately.

Annihilape swung its palm down heavily against the incoming Flamethrower; the powerful Brick Break cleanly split the flames in two, and the fire burned past both sides of Annihilape.

The heat wave from the flames blew Annihilape's grayish-white fur into a frenzy, making it look even more ferocious and wild.

"This power..."

Seeing this scene, Karen's eyes flickered slightly, and Will was also very shocked.

Such a powerful Brick Break?!

Houndoom was Karen's ace Pokémon, and its Special Attack was especially powerful.

Yet a single Brick Break had actually split Houndoom's Flamethrower.

"Lord Mamen is strong!"

Chakra, however, clenched his fist and cheered; as expected of Young Master Mamen!

Having split the Flamethrower, Annihilape didn't even look at Weavile, charging straight toward Houndoom.

"Extreme Speed."

Suicune broke free from the flinch state of Fake Out, a white glow suddenly appearing behind it as it charged directly at Weavile.

Bang!

The priority move Extreme Speed was simply too fast, slamming directly into Weavile's chest; Weavile let out a pained cry and was knocked back.

But Suicune's Extreme Speed did not stop there; it rushed past Weavile, turned around, and charged at Weavile once again.

It was Extreme Speed again!

"Counter!"

"Fire Blast!"

Karen's reaction was very fast.

A white glow lit up on Weavile's claws—the Fighting-type move specifically used to counter priority moves, Counter!

Weavile swiped its Counter swiftly toward Suicune, yet Suicune was not hit by the Counter because it hadn't attacked Weavile at all.

Suicune, in its Extreme Speed state, had zipped past Weavile at high speed!

Karen's pupils constricted slightly.

Bang!

Suicune, having pivoted off the ground to turn back once more, slammed fiercely into Weavile's back.

Weavile cried out in pain; this Extreme Speed was even heavier, and its entire body was sent flying.

"Air Slash."

Suicune leaped high into the air, and an Air Slash capable of cutting through the very sky shot down from its mouth, hitting Weavile directly.

A loud boom erupted.

The Flying-type Air Slash exploded on Weavile, and thick dust filled the air.

However, Suicune was very considerate, whipping up a gust of wind to blow away the dust before slowly walking in front of the heavily injured Weavile.

Weavile was in pain all over; two Extreme Speeds and one Air Slash meant its current state was truly not very good.

Suicune stared at Weavile expressionlessly, its cold gaze making Weavile feel uneasy—what did this water dog want to do?

On the other side, Annihilape charged aggressively toward Houndoom, while Houndoom retreated while gathering flames in its mouth.

The "Big"-shaped flames scorched the air, yet Annihilape simply vanished from its spot using Phantom Force.

When it reappeared, it was already behind Houndoom.

Although, prompted by Karen, Houndoom had prepared in advance, Annihilape's movements were still too fast.

It grabbed Houndoom's tail directly!

Unable to escape after having its tail grabbed, Houndoom was subjected to a full Close Combat by Annihilape.

After this round of Close Combat, Houndoom almost collapsed to the ground with swirl-eyes.

"That's enough, young man, I concede."

Seeing that Annihilape was about to continue, Karen surrendered very decisively.

"Not continuing the battle? You can switch Pokémon; there's no rush right now anyway."

Mamen smiled and gave Karen a friendly reminder.

"There's no point, young man. You really are strong."

Karen shook her head, looked deeply at Mamen, and sighed with such emotion.

Ever since she completed the Masked Man's trial, she had never encountered an opponent she couldn't defeat.

But today, not only did she lose, but it was the kind of defeat that had almost no suspense.

This also showed that Mamen's strength was far greater than hers!

"You flatter me," Mamen replied very modestly.

"According to our agreement, I will join Team Rocket and serve as an executive, so..."

Karen smiled; her smile was truly charming. She looked at Mamen, but her hand pointed toward the side where Suicune and Weavile were.

"Young man, can you let your Suicune let my Weavile go? If it keeps hitting it, Weavile's face is going to be beaten swollen!!"

Mamen was stunned and looked toward Suicune's direction.

He discovered that this extremely vengeful "Haji-Suicune" had, at some point, begun expressionlessly slapping Weavile's face one slap after another.

Slap! Slap! Slap! It even had a sense of rhythm!

Yes, it was still not using any special moves, just pure slapping.

Seeing this scene with such strong déjà vu, even Cattleya was stunned; she felt like she had seen this scene somewhere before.

May and Tamio had strange expressions; they felt they might have trouble looking at Suicune the same way in the future.

Suicune... the messenger of Lord Ho-Oh, was it really like this?

"That's enough, Haji-Suicune, if you keep hitting it, Weavile is going to be knocked unconscious by you."

Mamen was also a bit overwhelmed and tried to persuade Suicune.

Slap!

Suicune gave Weavile one last slap that sent it spinning like a top, then lowered its paw, snorted coldly, and walked back to Mamen's side with its head held high.

What kind of small fry is this? Daring to slap me??

Don't you know that my backers are Mamen and Ho-Oh?

"..."

Karen's eyelid twitched several times as she recalled the poor Weavile into its Poké Ball.

"Welcome to Team Rocket, beauty."

Mamen walked up to Karen and smiled, extending his hand.

"Please take care of me from now on."

Karen also smiled like a flower and shook Mamen's hand.

Team Rocket, it must be very interesting too.

And with the help of Team Rocket's resources, it would be a great help to her mission, so Karen was quite satisfied.

Come to think of it, if she hadn't lacked the connections, she would have joined Team Rocket long ago.

"By the way, young man, I have a friend here too. Can he join as well?"

Karen toyed with the gold badge in her hand and glanced smilingly at Chakra, whose expression was not very good.

She remembered very clearly that Mamen had told her that her status as a top executive was even higher than that of a high-ranking executive.

That is to say, she had become Chakra's superior, but Karen finally hadn't forgotten Will.

"Of course, no problem." Mamen glanced at Will; he had almost forgotten this background character.

Will, a Psychic-type Elite-level Trainer, and also the first of the original Johto Elite Four.

"Will's strength is still quite good; he is Elite-level and specializes in the Psychic type," Karen put in a good word for Will.

"Very welcome."

Mamen took out another silver Team Rocket badge and handed it to Will.

Mamen was in a very good mood; both Karen and Will were very good talents.

Although Mamen knew that neither of them had any loyalty to Team Rocket right now, that could be cultivated slowly.

After all, given the personalities of Karen and Will, it was impossible for them to join the League now.

After chatting briefly with Karen and Will, Mamen looked at Chakra.

"Chakra, where is Lugia?"

"According to reports from subordinates, they saw two Lugia on the south coast of Chongdao," Chakra said.

"In that case, we will have to wait a bit longer."

Mamen nodded.

He also had some vague memories; in the anime plot, it seemed that the Lugia mother and child inhabited the waters around Chongdao.

"It's still early, let's rest for a bit, how about that?"

Mamen looked toward the three young ladies, Cattleya and the others.

"That's fine." Cattleya had no objections, and May and the other girl had even less to say.

"Tsk, I really envy you, little brother. You get to travel with three super beauties; you're quite the ladies' man, aren't you?"

Karen stood with one hand on her slender waist, clicking her tongue in wonder.

"A man can only be a ladies' man if he has the ability; doesn't this also indirectly prove my excellence?" Mamen felt no shame at all.

"That's true enough."

Karen actually nodded in agreement.

"Speaking of which, on our way here, we heard a sailor mention something quite interesting. Do you want to hear it, little brother?" Karen seemed to have remembered something.

"Go ahead."

"The Whirl Islands have always had a legend that the Whirl Islands were once a single landmass, but because of a war, the angry guardian deity Lugia struck it with lightning and split it into four pieces."

Karen spoke eloquently.

Mamen took a sip of juice; of course, he knew this.

"Later, someone wanted to seek Lugia's forgiveness, so he ventured deep into the great waterfall of the Whirl Islands, hoping to find Lugia."

"But in the end, he fled, having gone completely mad."

Karen feigned mystery.

"Why?" Mamen became a little interested.

"It is said that at the end of the great waterfall, he saw a giant Pokémon that looked like a demon, and because he was so terrified, his mind snapped."

Karen lightly flexed her slender fingers; she was also quite interested in this story.

"A Pokémon that looks like a demon?" Mamen raised an eyebrow.

A Pokémon that could scare someone into madness—does such an existence really exist here in the Whirl Islands?

"Are you interested, little brother? If the interior of the Whirl Islands' caves weren't so convoluted, I would have wanted to go in and take a look myself."

Karen said with a smile.

The depths of the Whirl Islands remain very mysterious, as there has always been a legend that Lugia, who once served as the guardian deity of the Whirl Islands, eventually vanished at the end of the great waterfall.

But in reality, even finding that great waterfall is no easy task.

"It is indeed interesting, though I don't know if this story is true or false."

Mamen pondered for a moment; if this story were true, could it be that a powerful Pokémon is still hidden deep within the great waterfall?

But wasn't that where Lugia resided? Where is Lugia?

(End of chapter)