You are not allowed to be a Pokémon Trainer!

Chapter 230 Lord Crimson Flame Pine's kindness to me is immeasurable. I need more money! (4k)

Awaken Groudon, expand the land, and create a new world!

It's not surprising that outsiders would learn about the Lava Team's written-down general principles.

After all, it was this grand, or rather crazy, ideal that brought together the Lava Team's strength.

If you were to investigate, this wouldn't be considered a secret at all.

However, controlling Groudon through the Crimson Orb is something that ordinary Magma Team grunts would never know.

It's a secret that's known only to mid-level managers and above; it's the most crucial part of the plan!
Does Team Magma have a mole in the Hoenn League, and a very high-ranking one at that?

Even if he did, Xia Chi isn't a member of the Hoenn Alliance, so where did he get the information from?

Huo Yan's thoughts were in complete disarray, and her calm composure shattered instantly.

Xia Chi saw Huo Yan's reaction and smiled slightly, "So you saw it just now, right? They tried their best to cover the team's retreat, but they abandoned you without any mercy."

"Not only are they incapable, but their loyalty is also pitifully thin. Miss Fire Goose, do you really think you can create a new world with such an insect?"

He was waiting for the fire goose's reaction.

If it were the Fire Goose in the game who was blindly loyal to Crimson Flame Pine, she would most likely be refuting herself by saying that "Lord Crimson Flame Pine is a leader as great as the sun."

But if it's the more realistic Fire Goose from the special episode, who's more focused on power and excitement, then it's hard to say.

Xia Chi clearly remembered that at the end of the special episode, Huo Yan realized that this was a foolish thing, and that Chi Yan Song and Shui Wu Tong were just two stubborn madmen.

They then turned against each other and joined forces with Ruby to prevent the world from being destroyed.

Furthermore, Fire Goose has explicitly stated that she joined Team Lava simply because she found it interesting and wanted to fight against more powerful opponents.

Although the reason is somewhat strange, it clearly shows that she is not someone who is blindly loyal to the Crimson Pine.

So what Xia Chi wants to do now is very simple: make Huo Yan betray them ahead of time.

To be precise, he made her his true mole within Team Lava.

Fire Goose was indeed furious at the fact that she had just been ruthlessly abandoned by the Lava Team's rabble, but her years of experience as a cadre made her no pushover.

Her eyes darted around, and she immediately guessed Xia Chi's purpose. She chuckled and took the initiative, saying, "After going through all this trouble, you want me to be a mole within Team Lava?"

"Yes."

Xia Chi frankly admitted without any concealment, "Team Lava is destined for failure and destruction, and has no future. Cooperating with me is the wise choice."

Fire Goose retorted sarcastically, "On what grounds? Just because you said the Crimson Orb couldn't control Groudon's unfounded speculations?"

"That's not it."

Xia Chi smiled slightly and said, "However, it's wishful thinking for your Lava Team to control even a Legendary Pokémon right now. I've already captured three Legendary Pokémon. It should be obvious who you should team up with for a brighter future, right?"

Huoyan: "."

Although I really wanted to refute it, Xia Chi seemed to make a lot of sense.

This is indeed the case.

Egui Peng, Xiong Tudi, and that elf whose name I can't recall.

Although they don't look as big as ordinary Pokémon, they are all legendary Pokémon.

Faced with such absolute power suppression, saying things like "So what? Groudon is the strongest!" is a bit like children sulking and arguing.

Chewing on the tasteless bubble gum in her mouth, Huoyan fell silent for a moment.

Xia Chi did not urge him, but waited quietly.

Silence itself is the beginning of wavering will.

After a long while, Huo Yan finally spoke firmly: "Even if you are powerful, you can't make me betray the great Lord Crimson Flame Pine!"

Xia Chi chuckled inwardly.

If you were truly blindly loyal to the so-called "Great Lord Crimson Flame Pine," you should have just directly criticized me.

Now.
It's clearly a case of "Lord Crimson Flame Pine has been incredibly kind to me, and now you want me to be a mole? You'll have to pay me more!"

Xia Chi was perfectly aware of Huo Yan's subtext, but remained unhurried.

------

"The destruction of Team Lava is inevitable; it's just a matter of time."

Xia Chi said calmly, "If you choose to cooperate now and become an inside agent, the Hoenn Alliance will wipe out Team Lava, and you will at least keep your freedom. You might even get a relatively decent ending and not become a prisoner."

He shrugged and said magnanimously, "Of course, you can also choose not to believe my judgment and continue to cling to that faint hope. The choice is yours; I'm just giving you another path to take."

Huo Yan was deeply shaken, but she keenly grasped a key point, narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and asked, "Wait. Since you have the strength to wipe out the entire Lava Team at any time, why not just have your mole expose the location of Crimson Pine and go and eliminate it yourself? Why go through all this trouble and use me as an inside agent to slowly infiltrate?"

Xia Chi's heart skipped a beat; the previous words had indeed misled her into suspecting that there was a mole within Team Lava.

He replied "frankly" and helplessly: "Because of balance."

"balance?"

Huo Yan frowned; this answer was somewhat unexpected.

"Yes."

Xia Chi nodded and explained, "Team Magma and Team Aqua are like two ends of a scale. If I destroy Team Magma, then Team Aqua, without any balance, will become the only dominant force. I don't need to elaborate on the consequences."

This reason was perfectly reasonable, and all the suspicion in Huoyan's eyes disappeared.

Xia Chi had no mole in the Water Fleet, so naturally he couldn't pinpoint Shui Wutong's location.

If Team Aqua becomes dominant, their plan to awaken Kyogre will face no further obstacles.

An out-of-control Kyogre could unleash a tsunami that could engulf the continent, and the massive energy surge could very well awaken the slumbering Groudon.

The situation will be just as awkward then.

Seeing Huoyan fall silent again, Xia Chi knew that the time was almost right.

"I don't need you to provide me with any intelligence immediately, after all, I may not know less about Team Lava than you do."

He took a step forward, his gaze fixed intently on those purple eyes.

"After you get back, Miss Fire Goose might as well put aside those idealistic filters that have been instilled in you, and take a good look at Crimson Flame Pine. See if his grand blueprint is the cornerstone for creating a new world, or a path to mad destruction?"

He looked at Huoyan meaningfully, "Remember, I gave you a choice. It's not that I need you, but that you need this opportunity."

This is obviously pure PUA. Xia Chi still needs high-level Lava Team executives like Huo Yan to provide intelligence.

After all, he was on the Lava Team, not the so-called mole that Fire Goose thought.

Huo Yan looked up in surprise, her beautiful purple eyes filled with only a final sense of confusion.

She subconsciously bit her lower lip and asked, puzzled, "So...why are you helping me?"

Xia Chi took another step forward, pinched Huo Yan's pretty face, and looked at her deeply.

The image of Fire Goose sacrificing herself in the shrine at the end of the special episode flashed through his mind. He said softly, "Because... it's not worth it for you to die with Team Lava."

Huo Yan was slightly taken aback. In her previous understanding, Xia Chi's somewhat frivolous action was enough to make her instantly furious and retaliate.

But for some reason, her body seemed to freeze, and even her thoughts stopped for a moment.

Xia Chi didn't explain further, and simply let go of her hand, saying, "Alright, you can go now. Think about it carefully when you get back. You know how to contact me."

Turning around, Xia Chi took out a bottle of full recovery medicine and sprayed it on the unconscious Muggle Eagle, Huoyan.

The medicine took effect quickly, and the Hawk slowly awoke, letting out a weak cry.

Fire Goose suppressed her incredibly complex thoughts, squatted down to pet the M'K Eagle, and prepared to leave.

Just as the Mk Eagle was about to take flight, Xia Chi suddenly shouted, "Wait a minute."

Huo Yan turned around, habitually using a nonchalant attitude to mask her surprise and doubt, a mocking smile playing on her lips: "What, regret letting me go?"

Xia Chi shook his head and said, "Don't your Lava Team's officers have memory lighters?"

He paused, then continued, "Let Ponpo and Zhenyi act out a scene with you before you leave. Otherwise, are you sure you won't be suspected when you go back after escaping unscathed from my grasp?"

Huo Yan was deeply shaken.

The Memory Lighter, a cutting-edge technology secretly developed by the village, can recall fragments of a user's memory by burning special paper.
Xia Chi actually knows this very well?
Although Chi Yansong was not a suspicious person, it was too strange that she had escaped unharmed from Xia Chi, who could easily defeat her.

At that time, the self-certification process for the "Memory Lighter" will almost certainly be inevitable!

At this moment, Huo Yan had no doubt whatsoever about Xia Chi's statement, "My understanding of the Lava Team is no less than yours."

She gazed intently at the enigmatic man for a moment, then nodded and said, "I understand. In that case, thank you very much."

Xia Chi shook her head at her, said nothing more, and turned to leave the grove.

Having understood Xia Chi's intentions, Zhenyi and Pengpeng made their move again.

A meticulously planned chase unfolds on the edge of Orange Blossom Forest.

Ponpon swung his thorny vine club, creating a whistling wind and a green glow of grass-type energy.

When the wings flap, a sharp cry is emitted, releasing a seemingly powerful but actually cleverly avoided ghostly energy shockwave.

The Mk Eagle was struggling to defend itself against the ferocious attack and was in grave danger.

Finally, amidst a shadow orb of light that barely grazed past as the Starhawk flapped its wings, it struggled to break through the encirclement and quickly disappeared into the deep darkness of the Orange Blossom Forest.

The wind whistled in her ears, but Huo Yan's thoughts remained unsettled.

She murmured to herself, "It's not worth it at all."

A complex expression appeared on Huo Yan's face. When Xia Chi said those words, an indescribable pity appeared in her mind.

She's very smart; otherwise, she wouldn't have risen to the position of a third-ranking officer in just four or five years with the Lava Team.

Therefore, Huoyan was fully able to discern that Xia Chi might be lying or concealing something else.

Of all the things Huoyan could sense in those words, only their sincerity was genuine.

My cheeks seemed to be getting slightly hot again, not from anger or shame, but from a flutter I had never felt before.

"Xiachi."

The fire goose watched as it swiftly flew below and disappeared into the dark forest, whispering the name, its purple eyes gleaming with a complex and enigmatic light in the night.

------

"Xia Chi, Xia Chi, why don't you just coerce her, Luo Tuo, directly!"

On the way back to Orange Blossom Forest Park, Rotom asked, puzzled, "Just like that classic line from those Kanto movies you often watch, 'Fire Goose, you don't want Crimson Pine to know about this, do you, Rotom?'"

Xia Chi's lips twitched. "When did I watch those kinds of movies again?"

"I haven't even said what movie it is and you already know about Loto!"

Rotom seized on the loophole and attacked, saying, "You still say you didn't watch Rotom!"

"Shut up!"

Xia Chi didn't have time to play these tired jokes with Rotom and fell into deep thought.

Releasing the fire geese was the only option.

Detaining her forcibly and subjecting her to torture is pointless and may even be counterproductive.

Just as he told Fire Goose, with his near-overlooking knowledge from his previous life, his understanding of the Lava Team's core secrets was no less than that of her, a third-ranking officer.

Xia Chi needs to control the Lava Team's whereabouts. Only by turning Fire Goose to the Lava Team and having her provide him with real-time intelligence can he gain any value.

As for Huoyan's personality, she's the type who responds better to gentle persuasion than force.

Forcing her might provoke her rebellious nature; you need to win her over with your personal charm.

This word sounds somewhat ethereal, even carrying a touch of emotion, but it is perfectly fitting for Huoyan.

She is the type who, once she has truly committed to someone, will demonstrate amazing loyalty and drive.

This loyalty is not blind loyalty, but rather based on independent thinking and shared values.

That is why, when she witnessed the madness of the Crimson Flame Pine pushing the world into the abyss, she was able to so resolutely turn against it.

Xia Chi knew that his words couldn't completely change her mind, but planting a seed of doubt and scrutiny was enough.

After that, she will no longer observe everything about Team Lava with a purely fanatical filter, and will pay closer attention to her own situation.

Xia Chi believed that once Huo Yan truly realized that the ideals she once believed in were nothing but laughable nonsense, she would naturally stand on his side.

So there's no rush right now.

Let the bullets fly for a while.

When Xia Chi returned to Orange Blossom Forest Park, the Hoenn police, who arrived late, finally took over the scene.

Officers were busy directing medical staff to treat the injured and comfort the frightened tourists.

Fortunately, most of the floating bubbles and ordinary tourists were only startled and were otherwise unharmed.

On the contrary, the members of Team Magma and their Pokémon were knocked to the ground by Pummel and lay scattered all over the place, some injured and some unconscious, creating a rather spectacular scene.

Not far away, Officer Jenny, accompanied by Arcanine, was talking helplessly to Kuma's apprentice who was guarding the Team Magma members.

The little guy crossed his arms over his chest, his face tense, and shook his head resolutely.

Clearly, Miss Officer Jenny was on official business, taking over these important Lava Team prisoners.

But Xiong's apprentice only recognizes Xia Chi, and without his explicit instructions, the little guy will never let anyone get close.

Xia Chi, seeing this, quickly went over.

(End of this chapter)