Team Magma had two secret bases in the ocean, while it had even more branches on land. Team Aqua’s situation was exactly the opposite of Team Magma’s.
Had Terrance infiltrated Team Aqua this time, perhaps the outcome would not have been the same.
Team Magma was not skilled at fighting on the ocean, but as its name suggested, the ocean was Team Aqua’s home turf.
Terrance’s clash with Team Magma this time could be said to have inflicted severe losses and dealt them a devastating blow. They could forget about recovering without taking a considerable amount of time to recuperate.
Most importantly, Terrance had acted alone this time. All the merit earned from the damage he had inflicted upon Team Magma could be credited solely to him. By a rough calculation, the amount of merits he had earned was probably already close to that of Elite Four Phoebe, who had spent the past several months relentlessly retaliating against Team Magma and Team Aqua.
This maritime base was the largest Team Magma base the Hoenn League had discovered so far. Every base they had previously eliminated had been smaller than this one, so Terrance could be considered extremely lucky.
Terrance’s good fortune represented Team Magma’s misfortune.
They had lost Professor Cozmo on one hand and an important base on the other, so Team Magma was undoubtedly furious. However, Terrance guessed that they would not immediately come looking for trouble because of this. Even if they intended to seek revenge, they would probably wait until after realizing their ambitions.
The Hoenn League had already demonstrated its determination to eliminate Team Magma and Team Aqua, and the two sides had officially torn off all pretenses of cordiality. Thus, the two organizations have been lying low, playing hide-and-seek with it. This was because Team Magma and Team Aqua knew that their current strength was insufficient to contend against the colossal Pokémon League. Forget the entire Pokémon League, even the Hoenn League alone could easily wipe out both organizations as long as it could accurately pinpoint their locations.
Destroying Team Magma and Team Aqua in a direct confrontation was not difficult for the Hoenn League at all. As long as it possessed precise information about the two organizations and could guarantee that they would be completely caught in one sweep without anyone escaping, Team Magma and Team Aqua would be nothing more than clowns.
Unless they truly succeeded in controlling Groudon and Kyogre. It was precisely because of this concern that League Headquarters had dispatched Indigo League Champion Lance to provide support.
“Damn it…”
Meanwhile.
On an isolated island north of Sootopolis City.
There was a secret Team Magma branch here, though all its members belonged to the organization’s outer ranks. Currently, it was not only this branch, every Team Magma branch was undergoing a massive purge.
Among the crowd, a young Team Magma member had his head lowered, his expression dark as he muttered something under his breath.
Terrance’s successful infiltration of Team Magma’s secret base had sent Maxie into a rage. After retreating, Maxie had issued an order to every branch: personnel assignments were to be reorganized and a massive purge carried out. They had to eliminate the possibility of spies infiltrating them, including but not limited to League spies and Team Aqua spies.
Team Magma had carried out such measures before, but not often, and they had always been handled independently by each branch. This time, however, Team Magma’s mobilization was astonishingly large, and the scale of the purge was unprecedented.
In that clearing, Indigo League Champion Lance, who had disguised himself as a Team Magma member and successfully infiltrated one of Team Magma’s branches, wore a bitter expression. Feeling somewhat lost, he struggled over how to deal with the upcoming inspection. He had gone to great lengths to infiltrate the organization and work his way up to the position of squad leader. Was all his previous effort about to go to waste?
During this massive purge, the slightest mistake could expose his identity. Destroying this branch would not be difficult for Lance, but that was not his true objective. He wanted to use his identity as a Team Magma member to make contact with Team Magma’s headquarters. However, judging from the current situation, even if he managed to pass this inspection, the subsequent infiltration process… would probably become countless times more difficult.
“What happened to Team Magma?”
At this moment, Lance still had no idea that Hoenn’s Fairy-type Elite Four had accomplished something major and indirectly caused him all this trouble…
…
…
Fallarbor Town.
After returning here, Terrance reviewed his battle with Team Magma. In that situation, had his team included Gardevoir as an additional Pokémon, then even if he could not have detained Maxie, he at least would not have been threatened and restrained by the other side to such an extent that he could not act boldly.
In a team battle, without Gardevoir serving as core support to assist Terrance with command, the effectiveness of the Fairy Domain was greatly weakened. Terrance had gained a deep appreciation of this through his recent experience.
However, the matter was already over. Terrance shook his head and, after reflecting on it, simply stopped thinking about it. That day, the Hoenn League’s highest-ranking chairman sent him a message of concern. Terrance did not say much, but Chairman Nakai proactively offered League funding to strengthen Fallarbor Town’s defenses and security as recognition of Terrance’s actions. After some discussion, the League decided to allocate a substantial sum for a second round of renovations to Fallarbor Town.
Once the matter was settled, Terrance made another trip around Mt. Chimney. After confirming that Team Magma no longer had any arrangements there, he checked on the growth of the Power Herbs. With Castform and Beautifly’s help, the Power Herbs were growing very well. However, too little time had passed, so they were not yet of any use.
Terrance was not stingy toward the Grass-type Pokémon he had requested from the League to help accelerate the Power Herbs’ growth. Not only did he frequently allow them to bask beneath intense Sunny Day, but he also regularly distributed nutritional supplements to nourish their bodies. Terrance’s generosity made these Grass-type Pokémon especially diligent in their work.
Although the battle with Team Magma had made Terrance realize that carrying only six Pokémon might leave him unable to deal with certain unexpected situations, the Power Herb project was also too important to abandon. After some consideration, Terrance decided not to transfer Castform or Beautifly away. Once he recalled Tyranitar and Arcanine from Oldale Town, he even left Arcanine here as well. With three rounds of Sunny Day bathing the Power Herbs in rotation, they should grow even faster.
As for Tyranitar, it rejoined his team.
At this time, Ash and the others were still in Fallarbor Town and had not yet left. They were touring the various scenic areas around town.
With Ash present, Team Rocket’s trio naturally would not be absent. Gardevoir, who routinely scouted the situation around Fallarbor Town, reported an interesting piece of information to Terrance: it had discovered the trio’s location.
The three of them were currently staying in Fallarbor Town. Since they knew this was Terrance’s territory, they had not entertained any thoughts of rounding up all the Pokémon in the scenic areas. Somehow, however, they had become tour guides in the Fallarbor Woods Scenic Area and were now making money right under Terrance’s nose.
“I remember… these scenic areas have strict requirements regarding the identities of their tour guides. Even if they met every qualification, how could they have gotten hired so quickly?” Terrance wondered.
When he arrived at Fallarbor Woods, he indeed saw those three figures. James and the others had all disguised themselves. Although their original appearances could still generally be made out, if one did not suspect them from the beginning, their crude disguises were actually somewhat convincing.
For some reason, upon seeing the three of them, a plan suddenly formed in Terrance’s mind.
There were too many limitations to keeping an eye on Team Magma’s movements by monitoring Ash. But if he could gain more “eyes,” such as Team Rocket’s trio before him… then should Team Magma make even the slightest move, Terrance would be able to react immediately.
Compared with the League’s Investigators, Terrance instead felt that these three might be even more useful. After all, they were “extremely dangerous terrorists” who had attacked the opening ceremony of the Indigo Plateau Conference and still escaped unscathed. Even Maxie would probably feel ashamed of his inferiority upon meeting them.
“Haha, long time no see…”
His thoughts settled, Terrance smiled and clapped a hand onto them, startling James and the others badly.
You can read ahead upto 65 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.