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The promotion system within Team Rocket, like most large organizations, follows a strict structure, and the primary factor determining a member's promotion is the number of merit points they have accumulated.
Simply put, merit points were a form of organizational contribution. Team Rocket members must accumulate enough of these points to even qualify for promotion.
Of course, accumulating enough merit points doesn't mean a Team Rocket member was automatically promoted. Once a member had gathered enough points to meet the promotion threshold, they could then apply to undertake a promotion mission.
Only after successfully completing the promotion mission could a member officially advance in rank.
To summarize, there were two core requirements for promotion: first, having enough merit points; and second, completing the promotion mission.
Generally, merit points were obtained by completing missions. The amount of merit awarded depended on the mission's difficulty and how well it was executed.
Within Team Rocket, missions were typically divided into three types:
Routine Missions: These include daily patrols, base maintenance, resource gathering, and similar tasks.
Such missions offer very few merit points, were often tedious, complex, and time-consuming. However, they were relatively safe and low in difficulty. Most Team Rocket members relied on these to accumulate merit slowly over time.
For example, many logistical staff within Team Rocket who rarely engaged in combat earned their promotions purely through routine missions.
However, relying on routine tasks for promotion was an incredibly long process. Even after a lifetime of service, the highest rank one might reach this way was that of a squad Squad/Platoon Leader with little power or influence.
Bounty Missions: These included tasks such as assassinating a specific enemy, infiltrating enemy organizations for intel, or retrieving rare items or Pokemon from dangerous zones.
Unsurprisingly, these missions were extremely dangerous. Without considerable strength or unique skills, accepting one was tantamount to suicide.
On the flip side, the rewards and merit points from bounty missions were immense. Successfully completing just one of these missions could significantly accelerate one's promotion process. Furthermore, the experiences gained often lead to a large boost in overall strength.
Team Rocket members with ambitions of standing out almost always opted for these missions—though the risk of death was ever-present.
Mandatory Missions: These were missions assigned by higher-ranking officers to subordinates.
The difficulty of these tasks could vary wildly. They may range from high-risk infiltration missions to trivial errands—depending entirely on the superior's discretion.
Because of this system, it was unwise for lower-ranked members to offend their superiors. Otherwise, they could be deliberately assigned overly difficult tasks with no option but to comply.
To ensure fairness, however, there were limitations. Generally, a superior may assign no more than two mandatory missions to a subordinate per year. Moreover, the difficulty of these missions must not exceed the subordinate's capability, and subordinates had the right to report unfair treatment to Team Rocket's internal supervisory body.
Currently, the veteran Team Rocket members stationed at the same base as Sato were undertaking a bounty mission. Their assignment was to defend this particular Team Rocket base.
From the earlier chaotic battle, it was clear just how dangerous this mission truly was. Even seasoned veterans struggled to fend off waves of wild Pokemon that fought with suicidal tenacity under unknown influence.
During that melee, Sato personally witnessed several veteran members of Team Rocket get instantly overwhelmed and killed by those fierce, berserk Pokemon. Against wild Pokemon infused with mysterious power, ordinary humans were simply too fragile.
What's worse, according to the veterans stationed here, the wild Pokemon assault they just faced was considered one of the most basic-level threats.
The strongest of those Pokemon was merely a Yanmega leader whose power was just at the early pseudo Elite-Four level. Not a single actual Elite-Four tier wild Pokemon had appeared.
Rumor has it that this base nearly fell once in the past due to a large-scale wild Pokemon assault. During that incident, six fully-established high tier Elite-Four level wild Pokemon attacked together (average level over 80).
Had it not been for two exceptionally powerful Elite-Four level Team Rocket officers risking their lives to defend the base, it would've been wiped out.
Although they managed to hold the base and even killed two Elite-Four tier wild Pokemon, heavily wounded three others, and captured one, the cost was catastrophic—over 70% of the personnel were lost.
One of the defending Team Rocket officers was killed in action, all their Pokemon perishing with them, while the other Elite-Four level officer suffered major losses in strength.
That alone illustrated how dangerous this long-term bounty mission really was. But accordingly, the rewards were staggeringly high.
As long as mission personnel managed to survive a single day guarding this artificial island base, they received 20 merit pointsand 100,000 PokeDollars, even if they didn't lift a finger.
To put that in perspective: a routine mission that kept a Team Rocket member busy for over half a day typically earned just 1 merit point. And the promotion requirement for a Rookie/Grunt to be elevated to Squad Leader was 1,000 merit points.
That means a Rookie only needed to spend 50 days stationed here to qualify for promotion—and walk away with a significant fortune.
And if another large-scale wild Pokemon assault occurred like tonight's, then successfully defending the base would result in massive bonus merit points and cash as well.
As for the wild Pokemon Sato had captured from the battlefield and packed in his bag—those were treated as combat achievements. Veteran Team Rocket members could trade these captured Pokemon in exchange for merit points and other rewards.
According to one of the veterans, the pseudo Elite-Four level Yanmega that Sato caught alone would be enough to earn 5,000 merit points and a large cash prize if submitted.
'The rewards really are tempting,' Sato thought, 'but that's only if you survive to claim them. The Pokemon attack earlier was just basic level. If we ever get hit by a full Elite-Four level strike, it'd be a coin toss between life and death.'
'And now I've got to survive on this peril-ridden island for three full weeks—and it's set to start at hell difficulty. No wonder Maya had that look like she was heading to her own funeral when she mentioned this island.'
It was easy to imagine that anyone who survived this so-called "competition," regardless of their final ranking, would be heavily favored by the Team Rocket leadership. Rather than a competition, this felt more like a meticulously planned invasion.
'We—the participants—are clearly intended to be the vanguard of Team Rocket's future campaign on this island. But what on earth is hidden here, to make Team Rocket invest so many people and resources?'
As he listened to the chatty veteran beside him recount past events and explain the base's situation, Sato's mind began working furiously through the implications. But the more he analyzed, the heavier the pressure in his chest became.
And then, suddenly—he felt as though he had just realized something crucial.
But he couldn't quite recall what it was.