Chapter 145: Meeting and Conversation

“Boss, run!”

The moment they saw the sludge truck, the bodyguards instinctively rushed forward to protect Giovanni.

Luckily, the truck only slid a few meters before stopping, and the large tank behind it didn’t emit any white glow.

Click

Natsume jumped out of the driver’s seat.

“I think your gate could be a bit wider,” he suggested, glancing at the roughly ten-meter-wide gate behind him.

Giovanni twitched at the corner of his eye.

“Come in,” he said, turning to go upstairs.

It was a five-story villa with a huge balcony on the second floor.

On the balcony, a small round table was set up.

Servants pushed out ice cabinets on both sides, stocked with various drinks and beverages.

A plate of cut watermelon was placed on the table, only to be immediately devoured by a yellow blur.

Diglett? Diglett! Diglett—

A Diglett stared at the empty plate and the half-lidded Midchu licking its hands, confused.

Awoo—

A massive Dragonite approached the ice cabinet, causing the servants to flee in panic.

Wuwu! The Dragonite plopped into the ice cabinet, looking utterly pleased.

It shifted its body to let more ice touch it, cracking bottles underneath, spilling colored liquids over the clear ice.

Gengar?

Gengar exhaled smoke, curiously picking up a fallen bottle of alcohol.

Gulp gulp— Holding the bottle, Gengar drank it all.

Gengar?

A strange reaction occurred between the alcohol and the Spicy Sludge, making Gengar’s sharp red eyes widen dramatically.

Gengah~

Discovering a new world, Gengar moved to another ice cabinet, exhaling smoke while drinking.

Diglett!

The Diglett finally noticed Midchu at the small round table and angrily attacked.

But Midchu could sleep at any time, rendering the attacks useless.

When Giovanni, now dressed, arrived on the balcony, he saw his treasured drinks shattered on the floor, two Pokémon fighting over fruit, and a Gengar exhaling smoke and drinking from the ice cabinets.

The servants awkwardly retreated to the balcony doorway, unsure how to handle the scene.

“Why did you release your Pokémon?” Giovanni snapped.

“The house is poor. Thought the kids could see the world,” Natsume waved casually.

“You truly have no manners,” Giovanni said, veins bulging on his forehead, taking a seat opposite Natsume.

“Thanks for the compliment?” Natsume replied, pausing before nodding sincerely.

Every time Professor Oak took him to academic exchanges, he would return to a torrent of scolding.

Natsume’s gaze drifted to the two rings on Giovanni’s fingers—one a Team Rocket emblem, the other a pine-shaped emerald ring.

Natsume probed them with telekinesis but was repelled by a strange force.

This power resembled the one in the underground temple that blocked his telekinesis before.

Giovanni said nothing; he could sense Natsume was probing him.

He could detect telekinesis users easily, but Natsume couldn’t uncover anything.

Complete Divine Authority detected nearby!

Simultaneously, a small red dot appeared on Giovanni’s waist.

Complete Divine Authority can be detected?

Natsume was momentarily stunned.

But when he encountered Mewtwo, there had been no such alert.

Did Mewtwo really only possess half of it?

In the Pokédex entry for the Divine Authority Pokémon, Mew and Mewtwo each only lit up halfway, and Natsume couldn’t even access information about the genetic Divine Authority.

Now, on Giovanni, a complete Divine Authority had been detected.

Curious, Natsume probed with telekinesis.

But after inspecting a few Pokéballs, the red dot settled on the last one.

Digging further revealed nothing—he only knew the color of Giovanni’s underwear; all other information was inaccessible.

The Pokéball was enveloped by a pale cyan force, blocking Natsume’s telekinesis entirely.

“You’ve been very rude,” Giovanni’s cold voice said as a servant handed him a drink.

“Speak. What do you want to exchange for Divine Authority research data?”

Seeing that no useful information could be obtained by probing, Natsume spoke directly.

He was willing to risk coming for a private meeting with Giovanni because the temptation here was too great.

Team Rocket held extensive research notes on Divine Authority and patterns regarding its usage.

For Natsume, this was worth venturing into even the most dangerous situations.

“Has the authority to battle been granted to you?” Giovanni didn’t answer, instead asking a question in return.

“What are you talking about?” Natsume asked, confused.

Giovanni stared into his eyes. After a long pause, he sighed:

“I’ll give you a brief lesson first, to make things easier.”

He clapped his hands.

Behind him, two attendants pushed forward what looked like a large blackboard.

Looking closer, it was a screen.

The screen lit up, displaying a rock wall mural.

“Do you know what this is?” Giovanni asked, pointing.

“Yes. Walter Spirit Screen, severely overpriced. For the same price, Falcon brand is better. Only foolish rich people buy it,” Natsume commented seriously.

“...”

“This was unearthed in Unova—a stone slab recording ancient wars,” Giovanni said, his voice cold and distant.

From this point on, he would only speak to Natsume for the purpose of explanation.

As Giovanni spoke, the mural on the screen gradually zoomed out, from a corner of the battlefield to a broader view.

Most of the Pokémon depicted were Ground- and Steel-types—Onix, Steelix, Rhydon, and the like.

Natsume nodded slightly.

In the League’s records, ancient Pokémon wars had been studied extensively.

Books he had read also noted that people in wartime favored Ground- and Steel-type Pokémon.

“At the end of the war era, one kingdom had two princes,” Giovanni’s calm voice continued.

The more Natsume listened, the more conflicted his expression became.

This story sounded so much like the Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.

Of course, Unova had such legends.

But Giovanni seemed convinced that this tale was true.

Natsume, having seen the movie before crossing over, understood the connection.

Giovanni had no such prior knowledge.

He was now curious how Giovanni determined that the legend was authentic.

“With the help of Reshiram and Zekrom, the war era was finally ended.”

Giovanni looked at Natsume.

“Do you have anything to say?”

Natsume paused for a moment.

The story Giovanni told was slightly different from the movie he remembered.

“We should get along with Pokémon and not enslave them for war,” Natsume answered with a politically correct response.

Giovanni remained silent.

“When ideals clash with truth, war is born,” Giovanni said, looking at Natsume. “But at the end of the age of war, Reshiram, representing ideals, and Zekrom, representing truth, appeared.”

“Why do you think that happened?”