After making his way through the Game Corner’s warehouse, exchanging for every item he wanted—and letting Blue pick out whatever she liked—August realized something surprising.

  He still had over half his tokens left.

  Wait… just how much did I win again?

  August was a little dazed. He only remembered that he had been winning non-stop, but he had no recollection of the exact amount.

  The nearby staff, on the other hand, were feeling mildly terrified at the sight of his remaining mountain of tokens.

  In a desperate attempt to steer him away from more expensive purchases, one of them quickly suggested, “Would you like to exchange some for Pokémon? A Trainer recently redeemed a very rare Porygon!”

  He was praying August wouldn’t continue draining their supply of Ultra Balls and Full Restores—those actually cost them money to restock.

  Unlike items that had to be purchased externally, the Pokémon were said to have been supplied by their mysterious benefactor. Their cost was practically zero. If August chose Pokémon instead, at least their financial losses would be somewhat contained.

  At first, August wanted to refuse.

  This is a Team Rocket-run casino. Do I really need to ask where these Pokémon came from?

  He knew better than anyone that Pokémon from pces like this tended to be disobedient at best. Worse, many of them suffered psychological issues due to unethical capture methods.

  But then a thought struck him—these Pokémon could serve as evidence to convince Lance.

  So, he feigned interest. “What Pokémon do you have?”

  Seeing August take the bait, the staff member eagerly handed over a redemption list.

  August skimmed through it.

  Unlike the in-game version, which only offered a handful of Pokémon, the selection here was vast.

  Not only did it include common Pokémon from the Kanto region, but there were also quite a few from Johto.

  However, the prices for rare Pokémon were absolutely ridiculous.

  Blue, after looking through the list, suddenly frowned. “I don’t see Dratini.”

  If she remembered correctly, the Game Corner’s advertisements had specifically boasted that Dratini was avaible as a redeemable prize.

  Yet, it was nowhere on the list.

  “Uh…” The staff hesitated before answering, “Dratini is quite expensive, so it’s not listed here.”

  August and Blue exchanged a gnce.

  Something’s off.

  “Oh? How expensive are we talking?” August gestured to his massive pile of tokens. “More than this?”

  Having worked as a ranger before, August had some knowledge of the bck market.

  Based on his token winnings, he should have more than enough to exchange for a Dratini.

  Yet, the staff member could only fumble for an answer.

  Seeing his reaction, August and Blue immediately understood.

  Dratini was just bait.

  Its only purpose was to lure people into the casino.

  Did Team Rocket have Dratini? Probably.

  Would they actually let anyone win enough to redeem one? Absolutely not.

  The whole thing was a scam—because under normal circumstances, no one should have ever won enough tokens to even come close.

  The only problem was…

  They had never anticipated someone like August.

  It was a little disappointing—he had been hoping to get a second Dragonair to make a matching set.

  “Oh well.”

  Putting the Dratini matter aside, August pointed at another option on the list.

  “How about this Golden Magikarp?”

  This was an unexpected surprise.

  Originally, he had only pnned to grab a random Pokémon as evidence for Lance. But stumbling across this made him genuinely interested.

  He had been jealous of Lance’s Red Gyarados for a long time.

  He had even thought about catching one for himself someday.

  But to think he’d find one here.

  The staff, practically relieved, immediately nodded. “Yes! We actually have one!”

  Blue, however, was skeptical. “This isn’t just a regur Magikarp painted gold, is it?”

  “I ran into a scammer in Cerulean City pulling that trick before.”

  Golden Magikarp were seen as symbols of luck and were highly coveted by the rich, making them a prime target for fraud.

  Scammers would coat normal Magikarp in gold paint and sell them at outrageous prices.

  Hearing this, August was reminded of a certain infamous scam Team Rocket’s trio fell for in the anime.

  “Of course not!” the staff member quickly reassured them. “You can check for yourself!”

  He hurried to the back and returned with an Ultra Ball.

  As it opened, a gleaming Magikarp appeared on the counter, its golden scales shimmering under the lights.

  It flopped on the desk, opening and closing its mouth as it occasionally bounced.

  August reached out and pced a hand on it, activating his Viridian Aura to check its condition.

  It was real.

  And surprisingly, while its thoughts were a bit… odd, its overall mental state was fine.

  August had fully expected to have to rehabilitate whatever Pokémon he got from here.

  But it seemed like he got lucky.

  “I’ll take this one,” August said, then turned to Blue.

  “Babe, pick one too. I’ll check it for you.”

  Blue knew about August’s ability to sense Pokémon’s emotions.

  She immediately understood his real meaning—he would help her choose one that hadn’t suffered from abuse.

  After inspecting four different Pokémon, August finally picked out a Happiny for Blue.

  It had been caught retively normally and didn’t seem to have any trauma.

  Clearly, Blue’s Pink Pokémon Army was growing once again.

  Then, just before they left, August made a final decision.

  He grabbed the other three Pokémon—the ones with obvious psychological issues—and redeemed them as well.

  These would serve as solid evidence for Lance.

  “Fifty more sets of Berry combos, and convert the rest of my tokens into Cedon Department Store gift cards.”

  Finally, August spent his st token.

  Carrying a fully loaded backpack of supplies, he walked out of the Game Corner—under the watchful gazes of staff who looked like they had just seen a disaster walk out the door.

  “Finally, that guy’s gone.”

  In the surveilnce room, the suited man clipped a sixth Poké Ball onto his belt, then turned to his subordinates with a sharp gre.

  “This mission cannot fail. If you screw this up, even if I don’t punish you, the executives will.”

  “Understood!” His men stood at attention, faces serious.

  Then, under his lead, they slipped out the back exit, following the tracker’s signal.

  ...

  Blue stood beside August, casually pying with the Happiny in her arms.

  At the same time, she pulled a small pendant-shaped tracker off her backpack.

  “This is the best Team Rocket can do? Their tracking devices are this obvious?”

  It was practically insulting.

  “They’re not sloppy—we’re just too good at blending in,” August replied.

  “They still think we’re just regur tourists.”

  “Besides, Team Rocket’s real elites are in their headquarters. No one important is stuck babysitting a casino.”

  Then, his voice suddenly turned sharp.

  “Right, Security Chief?”