Chapter 44: Layer Upon Layer of Obstacles

The Master Ball?
So their target really was this!

At that moment, Sabrina twitched unnaturally. Having maintained a single posture for so long, her body had inevitably grown somewhat stiff.
Yet with this movement, though providing slight relief, her contact with Xiaoyou became even closer.
Realizing he was pressing against several soft curves, Xiaoyou could not help but feel his heart beat faster, and even Sabrina's breathing grew heavier.

Fortunately, those Team Rocket grunts had truly only rested for a short while before leaving the recreation room. Once their voices completely faded away, the two hurriedly scrambled out of the changing locker.
Having been stuffy for so long, Xiaoyou took a deep breath of fresh air. Whether it was just his imagination or not, having been pressed so close to Sabrina, did he seem to carry a trace of a girl's faint fragrance on his body?

To avoid mutual awkwardness, Xiaoyou did not look at Sabrina's expression, but instead walked up to the door and carefully poked his head out to observe.
A dark, round face was staring right back at him...
Startled, Xiaoyou recognized it as none other than his own Gastly.
"Why are you outside!?"
"It's because you two were moving too slowly." Gastly floated in from the side, its suspicious gaze shifting back and forth between Xiaoyou and Sabrina. "Strange, what were you two just doing? Why is her face a little red?"
"Hey, hey, don't talk nonsense!" Xiaoyou hurriedly went to cover Gastly's mouth, but his hand passed right through Gastly's body. "We were just hiding from Team Rocket's search!"
"Rest assured, Team Rocket has already left." Gastly let out a mischievous, knowing chuckle, clearly taking Xiaoyou's explanation as a cover-up. "Since everything is fine, let's get going quickly."

Leaving the recreation room, the two entered the stairwell and headed upwards.
Unfortunately, there were simply too many Team Rocket members in this building. Not long after setting off, they ran straight into several grunts coming the other way.
"Who are you people!?"
Seeing Xiaoyou and Sabrina, whose attire clearly differed from that of the researchers, one of the grunts shouted loudly. Yet before they could take any action, the next second, all of them were enveloped in psychic power and transformed by Sabrina into helpless little wooden dolls!

This was the very technique she had once used against Brock and Misty when Ash challenged her Gym. Those caught in it had no ability to resist whatsoever and could only be manipulated at will.
However, despite dealing with those few individuals, the shout from earlier had alerted others. Many Team Rocket grunts who heard the noise came rushing toward the scene from all directions.

"As expected, things still can't go as smoothly as anticipated!"
The two picked up their pace, running upward in the stairwell, while below them, a growing number of Team Rocket grunts gave chase.
"There are intruders!"
"What's going on? Didn't the monitoring room spot them!?"
"Damn it, how did they sneak in? Quickly report to the executive!"

After continuing to run up several floors, their path ahead was abruptly blocked by another group of Team Rocket grunts.
By this point, pursued from behind and blocked from the front, their route was completely sealed off.
Seeing this, Xiaoyou decisively took out a Poké Ball and released Kirlia.
"Gastly, use Hypnosis! Kirlia, use Psychic!"

Both Pokémon unleashed their moves simultaneously, and those Team Rocket grunts, even before they had time to summon their respective Pokémon, tumbled to the ground like bowling pins.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Xiaoyou and Sabrina continued running upward.

...

On the top floor of Silph Co., the President's office.
As the ultimate boss of Team Rocket, Giovanni stood imposingly in the office, clad in a black suit with his hair meticulously combed, gazing down from above at an old man before him.
The old man sat on the sofa. Though well past seventy, he was full of vitality. Even amidst such a predicament, his expression remained unchanged, completely devoid of panic.

"Old man," Giovanni's voice was low and slow, carrying an immense sense of oppression. "For the sake of your employees' safety, you'd better tell me quickly: exactly where have you hidden the Master Ball!"
"You might as well give up on that thought. How could such a dangerous Poké Ball ever be handed over to the likes of you!" the old man said with a calm expression. "It's just that I truly never expected the infamous leader of Team Rocket to personally lead a team today to seize my company. It's quite surprising indeed."

Giovanni remained entirely unfazed by the old man's sarcasm.
In fact, having thoroughly searched the building without finding the Master Ball, this old man had become his last hope. Moreover, due to his advanced age, resorting to violence against him was out of the question.
At that moment, a Team Rocket grunt walked up to Giovanni and whispered a few words into his ear.

"Intruders?" Giovanni cast a cold glance at the grunt, radiating an unangered authority. "Why are they only being discovered now?"
A cold sweat instantly broke out on the grunt's forehead. "Th-this is because they broke into the control room first, knocked out our men, and sabotaged the equipment, which is why..."

He hadn't expected a variable to emerge in their meticulous plan.
"Who are the intruders?"
The grunt hastily replied, "There are two intruders in total. The identity of one has been confirmed—she is none other than Saffron Gym Leader Sabrina! As for the other person, it's a male of roughly the same age as Sabrina, but his specific identity remains unverified!"

"Sabrina!?"
A flash of murderous intent crossed Giovanni's eyes.
Anyone else would be manageable, but as a fellow official Gym Leader of the Pokémon League, Giovanni had naturally met Sabrina on several occasions.
His persona as the Viridian Gym Leader served as an excellent cover for him; if Sabrina were to discover his true identity, it would indeed be a major setback.

With that thought, he glanced back at a Team Rocket executive who had been leaning against the wall the entire time.
"Lance, leave the matters here to you. Do not let them leave this place alive."

The executive addressed as Lance was a man wearing Team Rocket's standard black cap with short cyan hair.
Hearing the order, he offered an elegant bow and said respectfully in a flippant tone, "Rest assured, sir. Everything will be over shortly."

...

When Xiaoyou and Sabrina, breathless and exhausted, finally reached the top floor, they suddenly heard the intense roaring of helicopter propellers from outside the window. A helicopter soared away from the Silph Co. building in an instant, vanishing into the distant sky.

Entering the floor, they bolted the door to the stairwell and had just begun to catch their breath when they heard the sound of applause echoing before them.
Clapping his hands, Lance walked up to the pair and praised, "To be able to break through all the way here under Team Rocket's heavy encirclement—I must admit, you two are quite impressive."

Surrounding Lance, numerous Team Rocket grunts closed in. Behind Xiaoyou and Sabrina, accompanied by a violent crash, the pursuing Team Rocket members smashed open the stairwell door and flooded into the hallway en masse.