Waiting in the elevator as it descended toward the ground floor, Giovanni couldn't help but glance at the Champion beside him. The Team Rocket boss had to admit—this guy had guts. Guts to do things differently. Unorthodox, bold. Just like Giovanni himself. The only difference? Giovanni leaned more into the criminally different side of things.
"First basement floor," a female voice announced as the elevator came to a smooth halt. The doors slid open with a soft hiss.
The first thing Giovanni noticed was the sheer size of the chamber. An enormous, open space stretched beneath the earth. The walls and edges of the massive room were caked in mud, glistening with moisture. From time to time, a goofy, wide-eyed face emerged from the muck—strange creatures half-submerged, watching. What made it even more surreal was that the faces glowed. A steady, bioluminescent light bathed the entire chamber, illuminating it from all angles. It was unmistakably the move Flash—and there was clearly a Pokémon responsible, hidden in the mud.
"Stunfisk," Blue said casually, as though reading his mind. "They're everywhere down here. They use Flash to keep the whole underground lit. Somewhere beneath all this, there's a hidden sea of them. Enough to light up twice the amount of space we've excavated."
"Fascinating," Giovanni muttered. "Stunfisk is Electric and Ground type, isn't it?"
"That's right," Blue replied with a nod as they started to walk forward. Tunnels branched off in every direction from the vast chamber, each entrance marked with distinct signage. One tunnel ahead bore the symbol of a stadium.
Giovanni exhaled slowly. As the only Gym Leader who had been expressly forbidden from managing his own stadium, it still stung. The stadium was more than a battlefield—it was a city's heart, a symbol of pride and power in this new Kanto. He had hated giving up control of it.
Now he understood why Blue insisted on building his own.
They followed the tunnel until it opened up into a colossal underground stadium. Unlike traditional arenas built upward into the sky, this one was carved deep into the earth. The seating was made of raw stone, and the battlefield itself was a packed-dirt arena. What stood out the most was the ceiling—unlike other stadiums, it was low. Not restrictive, but intentionally designed to limit the advantage of flying-types. The glow of Stunfisk lit the arena just as it had the chamber before.
"It's… incredible," Giovanni murmured. An underground stadium, chiseled out of rock and earth. He had never seen anything like it.
"Almost seventy thousand people can watch matches here," Blue said, pride in his voice. "I'll admit—this underground concept was a lot more complicated than it looked on paper all those years ago. But we pulled it off. And this… this is just the beginning. There's a whole world under here still to be built."
They left the arena and headed toward another tunnel, this one marked with a train symbol.
"One of the most frustrating things about Kanto," Blue began, "is how limited our transportation options are. Sure, we've got this whole adventurer mindset—traveling route by route, battling through nature—but that doesn't work if you're trying to develop an actual territory. In my new Kanto, people should be able to travel from the farthest east to the farthest west in the shortest time possible. I want to connect our cities in a way this region has never seen before."
As the tunnel ended, Giovanni found himself standing before an enormous underground railway station. It was sprawling—vast tracks, polished platforms, and all of it hidden beneath the surface.
"That's why Diglett's Cave was perfect!" Blue declared, excitement rising in his voice. "We used those little guys to burrow out a full underground tunnel network connecting all of Kanto." He gestured at the rails with pride. "From right here, you can get to every major city in the region. And the trains—don't even get me started. State-of-the-art tech, powered by Pokémon, and fast. These shiny monsters can hit speeds of 500 to 600 kilometers per hour. Cost me a fortune."
"You built all this underneath Kanto?" Giovanni was stunned. The idea of constructing an entire high-speed rail system beneath a region like Kanto—it was insane. Ambitious. But somehow, Blue had pulled it off.
"That's just the first basement floor, Giovanni," Blue said with a grin. "We've got the stadium, and now the railway. Come on—let's head to the second basement floor."
Giovanni exhaled. There's more?
They re-entered the elevator, descending even deeper into the earth.
"As Cerulean City's leader, you're also responsible for Route 4 and half of Mt. Moon," Blue explained. "Brock handles the other half, since it borders Pewter. That's why we introduced a range of new Ground-type Pokémon into Route 4—and some deeper into Mt. Moon as well. Any issues so far?"
"It's been… difficult," Giovanni admitted. "The native population of Route 4 is struggling. The new species you brought in are far more powerful. Route 4 used to be home to Rattata, Spearow, Ekans, Sandshrew, and Mankey. Now their numbers are dwindling. They're at the bottom of the food chain, and mostly just serve as prey. Honestly, I don't know if they'll survive much longer."
Blue's expression darkened. "The Pokémon world is crueler than we let ourselves believe when we're kids," he muttered. And it was true—this was still nature. People ate meat. So did Pokémon. That meat often came from other Pokémon. In the wild, Pokémon fought, hunted, and killed. And sometimes, humans weren't entirely exempt from that cycle. Rare, yes—but not impossible. Pokémon were intelligent, more so than ordinary animals. But instincts were still instincts.
"Second basement floor," the female voice announced again.
The elevator doors opened, and Giovanni and Blue stepped out into the deeper unknown.
Without warning, a thunderous roar echoed through the cavern.
Giovanni blinked in surprise. Standing before them was a colossal bear-like creature—something he had never seen before. With a savage snarl, it charged straight at them, its jaws open wide, as if intent on tearing a chunk of flesh from their bodies.
A shimmering, translucent barrier materialized in front of them just in time—Protect, Giovanni recognized instantly. He glanced at Blue, who remained perfectly calm, hands casually in his pockets.
"Ah," Blue grinned. "Nothing like being welcomed by an Ursaluna, right?"
Ursaluna? Giovanni frowned. The name was unfamiliar. But now that he looked closer, the creature bore a vague resemblance to Ursaring—though this one was far bulkier, more grounded. Definitely a Ground-type, if he had to guess.
It was a massive, quadrupedal, dark brown bear Pokémon with a thick, gray pelt draped over its humped back, limbs, and rounded tail. The pelt bristled with nine rectangular brown spikes down its spine and four more on either side of its head. Its forepaws sported five deadly claws each; the rear, three. Its face was marked by a pale yellow circle on the forehead, shaped like a full moon. Two stormy-gray eyebrows arched like clouds above piercing eyes. Its broad snout was the same pale yellow, ending in a small black nose, with sharp canines bared as it growled.
"You dumb bear," Blue scolded with a casual wave. "You can't just camp out by the entrance scaring people off. You're supposed to be deeper in—ambushing the survivors after they've had a couple of hours to build confidence!"
Giovanni gave him a puzzled look. What in the world was Blue talking about?
Before he could process it further, a graceful blur darted in from the side—Milotic. With a surge of elegant fury and a torrent of water, the serpent-like Pokémon slammed into Ursaluna. Despite the brutality of the strike, every movement was fluid, almost mesmerizing.
The bear was knocked back, groaning, and staggered away into the shadows.
"So," Blue said, straightening his jacket with a smug expression, "welcome to the second basement floor. My favorite. I like to call it... Underground Hell."
"Underground Hell?" Giovanni echoed, a creeping unease settling over him. Something told him he wasn't going to like what came next.
"Oh yes," Blue grinned. "This place is magnificent. It's an underground world, Giovanni. A hidden network sprawling beneath the entire Kanto region. And to tell you the truth… it's already begun expanding into other regions. Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh—tunnels and chambers have infiltrated them all. A vast world beneath their feet… and they don't even realize it exists!"
Giovanni blinked. "You've continued digging tunnels beneath other regions?"
"But of course," Blue said, flashing a toothy grin. "I'm not naive, Giovanni. For now, no one pays attention to us—except Lance. He's the only Champion who understands just how capable I really am. But that won't last forever. Things are going to change—soon."
Giovanni raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"The changes we're bringing are too big," Blue admitted, his tone serious now. "Too disruptive. We're going to make enemies, Giovanni. Maybe one or two regions will want to align with us—hoping to profit off what we've built. But the rest?" He shrugged. "They'll fight us. Most of them will hate us."
Blue's grin turned cold—almost feral.
"That's why we have to be ready when the day comes. Who would ever suspect the nice folks from Kanto to be lying in wait, right beneath their feet, deep underground?"
Giovanni chuckled. "You scheming bastard."
"To pull this off—this whole operation, spreading beneath the entire continent—I need two things," Blue said, taking a step closer. "A Ground-type master… and a ruthless bastard with the resources and the guts to do what needs to be done."
He pointed at Giovanni, eyes wide in mock surprise—like an actor delivering a twist on stage.
"Wait a second… aren't you the perfect guy for that?"