Pokémon: I’m Really Not a Team Rocket Spy

Lance stood quietly to the side, not saying a word, looking every bit like an obedient child. Maki had never seen him so well-behaved before. The only person capable of making him act this way was undoubtedly Agatha, a formidable Elite Four member with an overwhelming presence.

Agatha swept her gaze over Maki, noticing the Charmander at his side. She quickly deduced that this young trainer must be affiliated with the Pokémon League. However, appearing next to Lance at such a coincidental moment made her instinctively more suspicious.

"Not too bad," Agatha remarked casually before directing a question at him.

"Did you receive that Charmander from the League?"

"Yes, I did." Maki wasn't surprised by her question and answered truthfully with a nod.

While he was indeed an undercover agent for Team Rocket, the Charmander was genuinely obtained from Professor Oak's lab.

Wait a minute…

Professor Oak!

"Which lab?" Agatha pressed further.

"Professor Oak's lab in Pallet Town," Maki answered, realizing where this was going but having no choice but to respond honestly.

"Oak?" Agatha's face instantly darkened upon hearing the name. As expected, just the mention of Professor Oak was enough to set her off.

"Lance, come with me. The League's new recruits are getting worse and worse. Now they even need me to handle such trivial matters," she scoffed, turning away without giving Maki another glance. Before leaving, she merely signaled Lance to follow her.

Lance clasped his hands together apologetically toward Maki before hurrying after her. He had no idea why Agatha was so furious upon hearing Oak's name. After all, Professor Oak was incredibly famous. Having studied at a Pokémon academy himself, Lance had, of course, heard of the professor.

Maki, watching Agatha leave, maintained a puzzled and innocent expression on the surface, but internally, he sighed in exasperation. That old woman was incredibly sharp—even when dealing with someone as insignificant as him, she still probed him carefully. He had to be cautious around her.

As for why Agatha was so enraged, Maki knew the reason all too well. Simply put, Professor Oak had not always been a mere researcher.

Back in his younger days, Oak was a serious Pokémon Trainer—a prodigy on par with Lance or Steven Stone. Even Agatha herself had once been no match for him. Over time, however, Oak shifted his focus entirely to research, a decision that Agatha saw as a betrayal. She believed his battle prowess had declined as a result, and her anger stemmed from that sense of betrayal.

Despite her fury, Agatha was not completely unreasonable. She disliked Oak, but she also knew what kind of person he was. If Professor Oak had acknowledged Maki, then she was inclined to believe there was no real issue with him.

Of course, just because she understood didn't mean she forgave. Maki decided it would be wise never to mention Oak's name in front of Agatha again.

Not lingering any longer, Maki quickly returned to his room at the Pokémon Center after confirming that Lance and Agatha had left.

"Is your psychic power still stable?" Maki asked with concern as he answered the call from Sabrina. It was the thing that had been worrying him the most recently.

"No problems. Agatha handled everything herself. I barely had to lift a finger," Sabrina replied. Hearing Maki's concern, she felt a slight sense of satisfaction.

"One more thing—Agatha is leaving tonight, so you better come back tonight too."

"About that… I think we can afford to wait a little longer," Maki said, twitching slightly. "She just left. Let's give it some time out of respect."

Although staying at Sabrina's Gym was far more comfortable—better facilities, better training grounds, everything was superior to the Pokémon Center—Maki and Sabrina's relationship was still something that had to remain in the shadows. If he immediately moved into the Gym right after Agatha left, wouldn't that be a little too blatant?

"Besides, I'll be in Saffron City for a while longer. No rush."

After some convincing, Sabrina reluctantly agreed, though she set her own conditions—Maki would have to spend more time at the Gym with her whenever he was free.

Time flew by, and two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

During this time, Maki found himself constantly rotating between the Gym, the Pokémon Center, and the Battle Arena.

When he wasn't training his Charmander at the Gym with Sabrina, he found himself constantly interrupted by Lance, who had apparently decided to stay in Saffron City temporarily instead of leaving after his mission. He often sought Maki out for training battles.

This led to a new problem—whenever Lance called, Maki had to either make an excuse that he wasn't around or have Sabrina teleport him back to the Pokémon Center.

A few times might have been fine, but if this kept up, it would start to seem suspicious.

Sabrina, meanwhile, had memorized Lance's name by now. She was simply waiting for him to show up at her Gym so she could 'welcome' him properly—with an overwhelming display of psychic power.

Maki knew full well that if Lance ever stepped foot into the Saffron Gym, he could forget about walking out normally.

Sabrina didn't care about his heritage as a Dragon Clan member or his League status. If he dared challenge her, she wouldn't stop until he was floating circles above Saffron City.

Brother, isn't life good enough as it is?

Every time he saw Lance's battle-hungry expression, Maki wanted to ask him that. And yet, every time, the conversation ended with Maki and Charmander being dragged into yet another battle.

There were moments when Maki, frustrated by Lance's persistence, seriously considered just sending him to Sabrina for 'education.' But he always managed to resist the temptation.

However, as he watched the countdown on his incubation device approach zero, Maki knew that his time in Saffron City was coming to an end.

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