Vita Magicis (HP SI-WC) (Patreon)

Chapter 57: The House Always Notices

Team Rocket Headquarters — Giovanni’s Office

Giovanni stared down at the dead, blood-soaked bodies of several Rocket grunts that now decorated his office floor.

Only after thoroughly checking the room for any lingering assassins did he finally sit back down at his desk, his expression dark.

“Search them for any evidence of who did this,” Giovanni ordered calmly.

One of his executives nodded sharply and relayed the command. Several grunts approached the corpses slowly, every step cautious, every nerve on edge.

The entire room was tense, and for good reason.

This wasn’t unheard of violence. Team Rocket had clashed with other organizations before, had spilled blood and gotten their hands dirty when necessary. But this was different.

This was the first time someone, or some organization, had not only murdered Rocket members but somehow delivered their bodies directly into Giovanni’s office without triggering a single alarm.

When he’d entered his office that morning, Giovanni had nearly tripped over one of them, only barely managing to keep his balance.

What unsettled him even more was the method.

Every single corpse bore the exact same wound, their throats slit at an identical angle and location, clean and precise, as if done by the same hand. A professional.

“S-Sir!” one of the grunts suddenly exclaimed, standing up stiffly. “We found something!”

He held up a folded piece of paper, hands trembling. “Other than their Pokémon, this is the only thing on them.”

The executive quickly took the note, examined it for hidden traps, then passed it to Giovanni once he was satisfied it was safe.

Giovanni unfolded the paper and read.

Dear Giovanni, Leader of Team Rocket and Viridian City Gym Leader,

First of all, Team Rocket sucks balls. Team Galactic all the way.

Now that that’s out of the way, some of your goons decided to annoy me today, so here we are. I don’t really have a personal issue with you or your organization, to be honest. I’m on vacation. I want to relax. And I really don’t want to deal with a bunch of assholes like the ones Team Rocket seems to be mostly made of.

Unfortunately for them, they didn’t get the memo.

So I responded accordingly.

Here’s a bit of advice, take it or don’t, I honestly don’t care. If you choose not to, then instead of some kid tearing your organization apart in the near future, I’ll just speed up the process and do it myself. I’ve got a few girls who are very eager to get their hands on Team Rocket, and they aren’t known for showing mercy.

Anyway, here it is. For the following month, stop all Team Rocket activities in the Kanto Region unless you want a repeat performance.

That’s all I wanted to say.

Toodles~

P.S. Oh, and before I forget, I’ll be robbing your Game Corner blind pretty soon.

Giovanni lowered the letter slowly, his expression unreadable.

He couldn’t tell whether what he’d read was some elaborate joke… or a declaration of war.

But there was one thing he was absolutely certain of.

Whoever had written that note was either completely insane, or dangerous enough to back up every single word. Not to mention that they clearly knew who he was.

Giovanni remained seated long after the letter was lowered, fingers resting lightly atop the desk as the room stayed silent around him.

A joke?

No.

He’d dealt with idiots, pranksters, and loud-mouthed challengers before. None of them slit throats with surgical precision. None of them bypassed security that he himself had personally overseen. And none of them delivered corpses like a message wrapped in flesh and blood.

“Dispose of the bodies,” Giovanni said at last, his voice even. “Quietly. No records. No leaks.”

The grunts stiffened at once, relief and fear mixing as they hurried to obey.

Once the room was clear, Giovanni stood and walked to the wide window overlooking Team Rocket’s headquarters. His reflection stared back at him, eyes sharp, calculating.

Someone had wanted his attention.

And they had it.

“Team Galactic…” he murmured, lips curling faintly. “Unlikely.”

Not their style. Too sloppy. Too theatrical. And certainly not this… personal.

The phrasing of the letter replayed in his mind. Casual. Mocking. Confident. The kind of confidence that didn’t come from bravado, but from certainty.

Someone strong.

Someone experienced.

Someone who knew how the underworld worked, and yet clearly wasn’t bound by its usual rules.

And the most troubling part?

Some girls itching to tear Rocket apart.

Giovanni turned from the window.

“Summon the executives,” he ordered. “All of them. Immediately.”

Within minutes, the upper echelon of Team Rocket filled the conference room, admins, division heads, intelligence officers, scientists. Every face carried the same tight expression even through the screens they were behind. They’d all been briefly debriefed of what had occurred in his office.

Giovanni took his seat at the head of the table.

“You are aware that several grunts were found dead in my office this morning,” he began, wasting no time. “You are also aware that this was not an internal affair.”

No one spoke.

Good.

“The perpetrator infiltrated this building without triggering alarms, psychic surveillance, or security Pokémon,” Giovanni continued. “They killed efficiently. Uniformly. And they delivered the bodies as a message.”

He placed the letter on the table.

“This is that message.”

Murmurs rippled as the executives read, some scoffing at the mocking tone, others going pale at the implications.

“One individual did this?” one admin finally asked.

Giovanni’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I don’t know and that is what concerns me.”

If it was one individual… then they were operating at a level that rivaled, or exceeded, his strongest assets.

“Until further notice,” Giovanni said, voice cold and absolute, “all operations are to proceed under heightened security. No unsanctioned contact with civilians or trainers.”

A pause.

“And if anyone encounters a trainer traveling with an unusual number of powerful companions, especially female combatants, you will report it immediately.”

The room stiffened.

Giovanni leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled once more.

Vacation, the letter had said.

He almost smiled.

“Whoever you are,” he thought silently, “you’ve just made this interesting.”

=====

Back With Aether — Following Day

With the weekend over, it was sadly time to get back to the grind as we hit the road once more, continuing our journey toward Celadon City.

The girls were in noticeably better spirits overall, even if Hermione, Rose, and Ginny looked a bit sullen after losing their chance to get intimate with me this time. Still, we were finally back to doing what we’d originally come to this world for.

Catching Pokémon.

Before leaving Viridian, I’d managed to get my hands on a Squirtle that an Officer Jenny had been giving away. It had taken a tiny bit of hypnosis to convince her that I’d already beaten Lt. Surge, but after that we were free to go.

On Route 7, Ginny finally caught herself a Growlithe, while Daphne managed to snag a Vulpix just before we reached Celadon.

“Whoa~ Celadon City is huge!” Astoria exclaimed, dramatically placing her hands over her eyes as she stared ahead in excitement.

Astoria, by the way, had been even clingier than usual today, and Daphne wasn’t far behind. The two of them had claimed one arm each and refused to let go since walking out of the Poke Center, practically glowing with happiness after what had happened the night before.

It was… nice.

Especially seeing Daphne finally let her guard down and act like a normal girl instead of constantly hiding behind that cool, composed façade. Case in point, she was currently chatting happily with Ginny, letting out soft, girlish giggles every now and then, something she usually only did around me or Astoria.

“If I remember right,” I muttered, half to myself, recalling what I remembered from playing the games, “Celadon has the biggest shopping center in all of Kanto. The Celadon Department Store.”

The instant the words left my mouth, a sense of pure, primal dread settled into my stomach.

Conversation stopped.

As one, every girl slowly turned to look at me, greed shining unmistakably in their different-colored eyes.

Fuck. I’d been too relaxed. Way too relaxed.

“Biggest…” Illya muttered, stars beginning to form in her eyes.

“Department store…” Hermione continued, her tone reverent.

“In Kanto!?” Rin finished, a dangerous grin spreading across her face as she took a step toward me.

The others wore similar expressions, some more restrained than others, but none of them brought me any comfort at all.

‘Fuck it. Let them do whatever they want. I’m staying out of this.’

With a tired sigh, I rolled my eyes and silently dumped a ridiculous amount of money into our shared inventory.

“Whatever,” I muttered flatly. “Just leave me out of it. If anyone needs me for something other than more money, I’ll be gambling at the Game Corner.”

I needed a good way to recoup the fortune I was about to lose and robbing Team Rocket blind seemed like a good idea.

Their cheers followed us down the street, but I ignored them, already resigning myself to the inevitable chaos about to descend upon Celadon City.

‘Let some other poor bastards deal with them,’ I thought grimly. ‘I’ve had enough shopping trips to last a decade at least.’

=====

The moment the automatic doors of the Celadon Department Store slid open, all hell broke loose.

“WE SPLIT UP!” Rin declared immediately, pointing dramatically as if she were issuing battlefield orders. “WE CAN COVER MORE GROUND THAT WAY!”

“No!” Hermione snapped back just as fast. “That’s how we get lost! We should come up with a proper schedule for everyone based on their needs and likes.”

“Too late~” Illya chimed, already halfway down an escalator with stars in her eyes. “I saw cute outfits!”

“I’ll join you~” Luna muttered with a smile as she skipped behind her.

Ginny blinked. “Why are there six floors of this stuff? Isn’t it way too much?”

“Because this place exists to test human restraint. It’s just one trap after another.” Rose muttered solemnly while focusing on an electronic sign that listed all the different stores.

There was a lot. Too many, in fact.

Astoria, still clinging happily to Daphne’s arm, leaned forward with a grin. “Sis… how much money did Aether put in the inventory?”

Daphne hesitated. “…Enough that I feel morally conflicted.”

Astoria’s grin widened. “Perfect.”

Within minutes, any semblance of order collapsed.

The clothing floor became a war zone.

Hermione was already knee-deep in neatly folded shirts, rapidly checking tags and muttering calculations under her breath. “I wonder if we could make something of this quality with the proper materials back home?”

Ilulu, holding up some pats and pans, hummed. “I wonder if the food would taste any different since these are made from different materials from the ones back home?”

“I feel kind of bad for doing this,” Ginny muttered while eyeing the price tag on some cute skirts.

Illya had discovered accessories and was now wearing at least five hats, three pairs of sunglasses, and something that might’ve been a scarf but could also have been a belt.

“Look at me~ I’m a mysterious adult!” she announced proudly.

Ginny laughed so hard she nearly fell over, guild forgotten.

Meanwhile, Daphne stood frozen in front of a rack of dresses, fingers hovering uncertainly over the fabric.

Astoria noticed immediately.

“Oh no you don’t,” she said, planting her hands on Daphne’s shoulders and steering her forward. “You are not leaving without at least three outfits.”

“I don’t need—”

“Yes you do.”

“No, I really—”

“Yes. You. Do.”

Ten minutes later, Daphne was dragged into a changing room, while Astoria stood outside like an overenthusiastic manager.

“Try the blue one!”

“No, the red one!”

“Actually, both.”

Each time the curtain opened, the girls reacted louder than the last.

Ginny whistled.

Rose nodded approvingly.

Hermione pretended not to stare and failed spectacularly.

By the time they reached the upper floors, the shopping carts were overflowing.

Poké Balls.

TMs.

Healing items.

Luxury snacks.

One extremely expensive-looking electronic device that Hermione insisted was “an investment.”

“Do we need this many Revives?” Ginny asked.

“Yes,” Hermione and Rin said in unison.

On the top floor, things somehow escalated further.

Illya discovered novelty items.

Astoria found lingerie and immediately vanished behind a display with Daphne, who had gone bright red and stopped making coherent sounds.

Luna was just going along for the ride, giggling at everything happily as the others asked for their opinion that she gave freely.

Rose leaned against a pillar, arms crossed, watching the chaos unfold with quiet amusement. “You know,” she said thoughtfully, “at this point, I think I should have joined Aether at the Game Corner. At least that way, we might have avoided getting arrested.”

Sakura adjusted her bag as she examined herself in the mirror, eyes shining with happiness. “We should leave him alone. Senpai deserves some alone from everyone.”

At that exact moment, the floor manager watched their group pass by, took one look at the devastation left in their wake, and quietly fell down to his knees in despair since they didn’t look anywhere near done.

A bit further back, a random civilian watched all of this happen with keen eyes before making a call unaware of the pair of eyes watching his every move courtesy of Asako and Bella.

=====

Meanwhile, Somewhere Else in Celadon City

Hearing the telltale chime of yet another jackpot, I silently thanked my lucky stars for having picked the Satou Template all those years ago.

Thanks to that choice, I’d ended up with the Luck skill, a wonderfully broken ability that made it almost impossible for me to lose at any game of chance. It didn’t matter how rigged these machines were thanks to Team Rocket. Probability simply bent over backwards for me.

And oh boy, was it bending hard today.

It didn’t take long before I started attracting attention. Winning nonstop tended to do that. I pretended not to notice the lingering stares and stiffening staff, focusing instead on steadily piling up more and more coins.

Still, I knew I was on a timer.

Sooner or later, someone would come over to “politely” ask me to leave… or outright accuse me of cheating.

Which, to be fair, I absolutely was.

Deciding not to push my luck any further, I cashed out and headed for the prize counter, eyes scanning the selection. Since this was the game version of the Pokémon world, the prizes were actually worth a damn, TMs, rare items, and Pokémon.

I quickly bought one of every available TM before my gaze locked onto the Pokémon section.

My breath caught.

A Dratini.

They actually had a freaking Dratini for sale.

That alone would save me a ridiculous amount of time hunting through the Safari Zone later, not to mention that it was one of my favorite Pokémon, and a pseudo-legendary in the making.

With great effort, I resisted the urge to shout in triumph.

Instead, I calmly slid all my coins across the counter and looked up with a confident grin.

“I’ll take the Dratini,” I said, just barely keeping my excitement in check.

The woman behind the counter nodded with a practiced smile, clearly someone who’d done this thousands of times, and excused herself, telling me she’d be right back with my prize.

As I waited, tapping my fingers against the counter to keep myself from vibrating out of existence, I felt it.

Hostile intent.

Turning around, I found myself facing what looked like a manager, flanked by two rough-looking thugs who were trying very hard to look intimidating.

“Can I help you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as irritation crept in. I already didn’t like where this was going.

“We’re going to need you to come with us for a moment,” the manager said smoothly, professionalism barely masking the edge underneath.

The two goons puffed up beside him, clearly expecting me to be start cowering any moment.

‘Tsk. So close,’ I thought flatly. ‘Well… I’m not leaving this place without a fucking Dratini.’

My expression didn’t change, but my mood definitely did.