Team Rocket’s Second-in-Command!

The room was simply furnished.

A single table, a single chair — Rose sat in the chair, a spotlight casting its glow across his face. It was the classic interrogation room setup.

The only thing that set it apart was a television in the corner, tuned to Galar's news broadcast.

When he heard the door open, Rose looked away from the screen and turned toward the figure entering the room.

His expression darkened.

The moment he saw the mask on Luo Yuan's face, Rose's eyes flickered with complicated emotion. "Your Team Rocket grunts really made a mess of me."

Luo Yuan didn't respond to the remark. He calmly pulled out the chair across from Rose and sat down.

"'A mess'? Personally, I think the people who suffered the worst were the Galar residents who trusted you — only to be attacked by rampaging [Dynamax] Pokémon."

Compared to the ones injured in the chaos you caused, Luo Yuan said, you're sitting here in one piece. You're lucky.

Knock knock knock.

The door opened again — a subordinate entered, carrying two cups. The quiet was briefly broken.

Luo Yuan tapped his Poké Ball. A flash of white light, and Polteageist appeared on the table, elegantly pouring tea into both cups.

Rose glanced at the ghost-type briefly but didn't touch his drink. Instead, he looked back at Luo Yuan, still wearing the mask.

"Based on the intel I gathered," Rose said, "you first appeared in the Hoenn region. Your Pokémon of choice was a Dragapult. That incident even prompted the Hoenn League to contact us directly. I've always wondered... Who are you, really?"

By now, Rose's reputation in Galar was utterly ruined. Eternatus — his final gamble — had ended up captured by the very person sitting in front of him. He'd lost everything.

Now, he just wanted to know whose hands he'd actually lost to.

Luo Yuan thought for a moment and offered his terms.

"I want your shares in Macro Cosmos."

"That's it? Fine. Take them."

Rose didn't even blink.

Luo Yuan let out a low whistle. "Not bad — that's the kind of decisiveness I'd expect from someone who ran an empire like Macro Cosmos."

Then, Luo Yuan reached up and pressed his fingers to the edge of his mask.

Slowly, deliberately, he removed it.

When Rose saw Luo Yuan's face clearly, his expression cycled — first confusion, then disbelief, then sudden realization.

In just a few seconds, his face had gone through a full spectrum of emotion.

"I... I never thought it would be you."

The person the League had always feared. The Rocket operative who'd shown terrifying strength during the Hoenn Incident and again at Mount Coronet. The infamous "Tech Hunter."

His true identity… was none other than Johto's rising-star Elite Four member — Luo Yuan.

No—it would be more accurate to say that the Johto Elite Four member Luo Yuan had secretly been a Team Rocket executive all along.

Just then, the news on the TV shifted — covering Luo Yuan's efforts in Galar, rescuing miners trapped in the Dynamax disaster.

The scene left Rose with a feeling of surreal absurdity.

A Team Rocket executive... doing good deeds in Galar? And making headlines for it?

Absolutely ridiculous.

But it also explained a lot — like how someone supposedly just an Elite Four member had managed to defeat both Steven and Leon, two of the most powerful Champions in the League.

Rose couldn't help feeling regret.

Why didn't I realize something was off when Luo Yuan beat Leon...?

But the regret didn't last long. Rose soon caught wind of something far more alarming.

"So… Kanto has already been infiltrated by Team Rocket this deeply?"

After all, Luo Yuan — one of Johto's own Elite Four — was sitting right here. That had to mean Kanto was in far worse shape than he'd thought.

He'd once believed the League Council was exaggerating the threat of Rocket in Kanto. Surely no regional league could be that powerless, even with a criminal group operating in its borders.

But now, it was obvious: the Council hadn't understated the problem — they'd been downplaying it.

If Johto's Elite Four were part of Team Rocket, then what about the rest of the League?

Luo Yuan saw the thought flash across Rose's face and chuckled.

"It's not that bad. Between the Kanto and Johto Leagues, we're probably at a fifty-fifty split."

Rose went numb.

This wasn't infiltration anymore.

At this point, they might as well rename the Kanto League "Team Rocket Division."

He thought back to the exchange delegation he'd sent to Kanto.

Now it seemed that even if this incident hadn't occurred, the people he sent would have been quietly neutralized by Rocket before they knew what hit them.

But with that thought came another realization — now that he knew this intel, there was no way he'd be allowed to leave freely.

"What are you going to do with me?" Rose asked. "Keep me locked up forever?"

Honestly, he didn't find that outcome unacceptable.

After all, the news coverage had already shown him: his name was finished in Galar. If he went back now, he'd just face the wrath of a betrayed public. Better to stay here.

But Luo Yuan's answer wasn't what he expected.

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T/N: make Rose join you! itd be way easier for future plans!