Pokemon: I Transmigrated Twice-Chapter 174: Pokemon: I Transmigrated Twice []

"Giovanni!"

Far away in Alola, Lusamine and her two children clenched their fists tightly.

This man... it was him back then...

Lillie and Gladion's gazes were fixed unwaveringly on Giovanni.

Meanwhile, Lusamine glared more intensely at Faba, who was positioned slightly behind Giovanni to the right.

Giovanni was certainly hateful, but the betrayal by Faba was even more unforgivable!

...

"Well said, Sird."

Under the watchful eyes of the entire world, Giovanni took a step forward.

"The leader of Team Rocket?"

Agatha frowned deeply, muttering doubtfully.

Wrapped up like a cocoon, Giovanni was only faintly visible through the high collar of his black cloak and the brim of his lowered fedora. The most that could be seen was one of his eyes.

Yet, the terrifying aura he exuded and the respectful demeanor of the Team Rocket members behind him made his identity clear.

Although Agatha wasn't as passionate about fighting criminals as Lance or Lorelei, she remembered every wanted criminal from Team Rocket who had been listed.

In Team Rocket, there was only one figure whose wanted poster had no face but was classified alongside the Shadow Leader as an SS-level criminal: the leader of Team Rocket!

The elite trainers from Kanto, who frequently dealt with Team Rocket, quickly deduced his identity.

"Heh, indeed, it is I," Giovanni said with a calm smile. "However, that is only true until today."

With that, Giovanni withdrew his right hand from his cloak pocket and pointed toward Joker.

"From today onward, Joker will be the Boss of Team Rocket! I am merely a steward of royal power."

Stephen: "???"

Wait, the boss of a criminal organization?

This title sounds oddly familiar...

At this moment, far away in a secret base in Unova, Ghetsis's eyes lit up as he watched Giovanni's declaration on television. His inspiration was sparked.

...

"First, let us gather the remaining legends as a tribute to the birth of the new Boss."

Giovanni's gaze shifted slightly to the trio of Legendary Birds protecting Caishen and the trio of Regis surrounding Aldous.

"Stop them!"

Chairman Goodshow and Lance reached the same conclusion:

"We must not let the Legendary Birds or the Regis fall into Team Rocket's hands!"

Even if Caishen and Aldous managed to escape, taking the Legendary Birds and Regis along with them, it wouldn't matter.

Without the shadow Lugia, they were at most somewhat troublesome fugitives.

But if these legendary Pokémon fell into Team Rocket's grasp...

To draw a parallel, if the Pokémon League were the world government of the Pokémon world, then Team Rocket with such legends would ascend from being a Yonko-level pirate crew to the equivalent of the Rocks Pirates! The threat would be immeasurable.

Even if the League had to let the Shadow escape, they absolutely could not allow the legendary to fall into Team Rocket's hands!

"Stop us? Hah! Do you even have the strength to do so?"

Giovanni reached into his cloak pocket with his left hand and took out a Poké Ball.

"Volkner, let's block him together!"

Flint turned and shouted to Volkner.

As the words left his mouth, Flint's Infernape stepped forward, ready for battle, while Volkner's Bronzong constructed a dual barrier of Reflect and Light Screen.

The moment Giovanni's Poké Ball opened automatically, a flash of light shot toward Flint's Infernape, who had taken just two steps forward.

"What!?"

Flint's eyes widened, and his Infernape's pupils contracted.

In that brief moment, the Infernape could only catch a flicker of motion out of the corner of its eye—a figure grazed past its shoulder. Then, a long, spear-like weapon swept down with unparalleled speed toward its nape.

Thud!

In an instant, the blow to its neck sent the Infernape flying like a ball, smashing into a boulder over 100 meters away, shattering it into pieces.

Flint's expression changed dramatically.

Before he could react further, the flash of light zipped past his side, striking the dual barriers created by Bronzong.

Zzzz—pop!

A piercing noise filled the air as cracks spiderwebbed outward from the impact point. The barriers shattered with a crisp crack!

Only then did everyone see what the yellow flash truly was.

A Beedrill!?

Trainers around the world, especially those who prided themselves on their starter Pokémon or pseudo-legendary teams, felt their worldview crumbling.

Could a Beedrill achieve such speed and strength?

Far away in Sinnoh, Tobias—who was fantasizing about assembling a team of Legendary Pokémon while still fuming over Sird's remarks—swallowed hard and muttered to himself, trying to comfort himself:

"N-no... it must only be fast. Beedrill is just a common trash Pokémon. How strong could it possibly...?"

Before Tobias could finish his sentence, Giovanni's voice rang out:

"One down."

At that moment, the Beedrill pierced through the shattered barrier and closed the distance to Caishen, who was being protected by the Legendary Birds, to within ten meters.

A deep purple venom surged at the tip of the Beedrill's right stinger—Poison Jab!

Squirt—thud!

The venom seeped into flesh, but it wasn't Caishen that was struck. Instead, it was the Dark Articuno acting as Caishen's mount.

"Keeyah—!"

The Articuno screeched in pain, losing balance mid-air and beginning to plummet. Caishen was thrown off its back.

The Dark Moltres quickly flew over to catch Caishen, taking over Articuno's role as a mount. Meanwhile, the injured Articuno crashed into the mountainside like a broken kite, sliding down diagonally before landing right in front of Joker.

Everyone was stunned.

Not only had Giovanni's Beedrill taken down a Legendary Pokémon, but it had also precisely chosen to drop it at Joker's feet.

This man... the leader of Team Rocket... was not to be underestimated!

"Come, Joker... no, our king of Team Rocket."

Although Giovanni's face was obscured by his high collar and fedora, his tone was unmistakably filled with amusement.

Joker felt speechless.

Back in his previous life, he had already thought N's title as the King of Team Plasma was overly dramatic, even a bit comical.

Not to mention that N's title was nothing more than Ghetsis's ploy to manipulate him.

And seriously, what was the point of a criminal organization having a king? It felt as ridiculous as the students at Blueberry Academy declaring themselves the Elite Four.

It all seemed like a game.

But now wasn't the time to dwell on that.

Joker, with his mechanical arm, retrieved another Poké Ball. Just like before, the moment his arm grasped the ball, a mysterious rainbow light flickered, merging into the ball.

This was a capture device—Stephen's latest invention.

Poké Balls enhanced by this device could bypass the capture restrictions of already-owned Pokémon.

Because of its overwhelming, rule-breaking nature, Stephen had decided it would be best for Joker to use it under his current identity.

"Stop!"

Just as Joker's Poké Ball was about to land on Articuno, Cynthia, who had just shackled Altair, waved her hand.

Her Garchomp, which had been sent flying by a Hydro Tail earlier, burst forward again, its body igniting in draconic flames mid-charge.

"Did the last two rounds of combat fail to make you realize the gap between us, Shirona?" Joker glanced slightly sideways.

Suicune took two steps forward, its robust tail igniting the same azure flames, eyes filled with disdain.

["Come on~ I'll soon send you flying like trash with my dragon tail!"]

At this moment, everyone noticed that behind the massive body of Garchomp crouched Gardevoir, the Psychic Queen.

Thanks to its Fairy-type immunity to Dragon-type moves, Gardevoir, though engulfed by the aura of Dragon Rush, suffered no damage.

Garchomp, with the momentum of Dragon Rush, charged at Suicune, while Suicune twisted its waist, preparing to strike with its powerful dragon tail.

However, just as the two sides were about to collide at the last critical moment...

Garchomp suddenly vanished.

Suicune's dragon tail missed its target, but the dragon flames it unleashed slashed out like a sword aura, cutting through the space between Cynthia and Diantha.

With a deafening explosion, the dragon flames struck the cliff behind the two women.

But no matter how impressive the momentum, missing its target rendered it meaningless.

Bang—!

Almost at the exact moment, the cliff behind the two women was split open, the Garchomp carrying Gardevoir appeared behind Suicune and struck its spine with Dragon Rush.

Hit by a super-effective move, Suicune staggered but did not fall.

Its gaze hardened as it opened its mouth and unleashed a scalding Hydro Pump filled with intense heat.

Steam!

Whoosh!

The duo vanished again.

The scalding steam grazed Joker's hairline as it passed, splitting the cliff behind him in half!

"Moonblast!"

"Meteor Shower!"

Diantha and Cynthia shouted simultaneously.

This time, their ace Pokémon appeared at Suicune's rear left!

"What a perfect combination!"

Now, the spectators began to understand the strategy.

The reason Gardevoir had been riding on Garchomp's back was to use Teleport, allowing it to bring Garchomp along.

This combination was akin to a scene from Naruto, where Onoki rode on the Fourth Raikage's back.

"Flame Barrier."

Joker spoke calmly.

Whoosh—Whoosh—

Flames erupted from Suicune's body, forming a massive semi-circular barrier of fire that encased it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The combined attacks of Meteor Shower and Moonblast landed, creating an indescribable storm that pulverized everything in its path.

"What kind of defensive move is that!?"

Diantha raised her hand to shield herself from the embers, exclaiming in shock.

Buzz—Buzz—Buzz—Ding!

But the only response to Diantha's question was the familiar sound of a Poké Ball successfully capturing a Pokémon.

The expressions of the two women changed drastically again.

Though the flames obscured their vision, they could both guess what that sound meant—

Joker had captured Articuno!

At this moment, the semi-circular flames gradually dissipated.

What came into view was a Pokémon resembling Entei, but with spikes growing from its head and back, a mutated Entei similar to the mutated Suicune known!

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

The flames from Flame Barrier fell onto Garchomp and Gardevoir, causing both to show expressions of intense pain.

They had been burned!

"That combination attack just now was pretty good," Joker said, turning the Poké Ball containing Articuno in his hand. Facing the two women, he spoke in a ghostly tone:

"But after using Teleport, your target should have been me. That way, you could have used me to threaten Team Rocket, right?"

"We're not as despicable as you Team Rocket, creating such monstrosities and stealing others' Pokémon!"

Facing Joker for the first time, Diantha shouted indignantly.

As expected, using this kind of thing meant facing moral condemnation from people like her.

"How naive, future Kalos League Champion," Joker chuckled lightly.

"Let me give you a piece of advice: if you want to protect your homeland, you'd better temporarily put aside your acting career and focus entirely on training your Pokémon—and learn how to judge people's character."

Thinking back carefully, when all regions were invaded by criminal organizations, Kalos performed the worst.

Although part of the reason was due to undercover agents within the League, the primary issue was the League's overall incompetence.

While other regions also faced catastrophic threats, they at least solved their problems on their own.

But Kalos? In the manga, Green had to come to the rescue; in the anime, it was Steven.

"We don't need you to lecture us!" Diantha retorted, waving her hand.

Gardevoir, enduring the pain of its burn, raised its hand high, releasing a Moonblast concentrated with even more power, falling like a miniature Gaia Energy Cannon.

Burns affect a Pokémon's physical attacks, significantly reducing their power.

However, Gardevoir is a special attacker, so the impact was minimal.

"Go."

At Joker's command, the mutated Entei leaped into the air, radiating an intimidating aura.

Boom—!

Entei's body ignited with flames, easily countering Gardevoir's full-power Moonblast.

Blazing Charge!

Seeing Entei crash down like a burning meteor, Diantha's Gardevoir, still far from champion-level strength compared to other future champions' main Pokémon, panicked and fell off Garchomp's back.

Entei planted its two front paws firmly on the ground, its lion-like head wreathed in flames stopping just five centimeters from the Psychic Queen's face.

"I'll let it slide this time since you didn't launch a direct attack on me earlier. Don't be so naive next time."

Joker waved casually, leading Entei toward the other side of the battlefield. As he left, he muttered to himself, "I was planning to release it earlier anyway."

...

...

"Gardevoir, don't move. I'll heal you."

Diantha hurried forward, taking out a Full Restore to spray on Gardevoir's burn wounds.

Cynthia crouched down as well, administering emergency treatment to Garchomp.

"Cynthia, what should we do? With our strength, we can't possibly..."

Diantha bit her lip and looked at her more powerful best friend.

While tending to Garchomp, Cynthia turned her gaze to the edge of the battlefield—to the man standing beside a bear-like Pokémon and a large dog.

"Although it's embarrassing, we have no choice but to rely on him for now."

...

...

"I've disliked you for a long time. As much as I'd like to take this chance to kill you, I'm busy right now. Can you get lost, Lance?"

Giovanni, hands once again in his pockets, looked impatiently at the Flying-type Champion standing protectively in front of the golden-armored Registeel.

"Forget about the Shadows. All units, focus your efforts on Team Rocket!"

Lance didn't respond to Giovanni directly but instead issued an order he found humiliating to say:

"Shadows, get out of here. We'll hold off Team Rocket!"

What he meant by this was:

"Shadows, you'd better run while we buy you time!"

As he had thought earlier—

Even if Shadows escaped with the remaining legendaries, it was better than letting Team Rocket seize them.

"How embarrassing. Oh, I just remembered—didn't Goodshow plan to push you to become the new champion of the Indigo League at this year's Indigo Conference? With your performance in this war, do you think you're worthy of that position?"

Under circumstances where he could only use a single Beedrill, Giovanni would still need some time to bring down Lance. He hoped his trash-talking might bait his opponent into making a mistake. Of course, it was also possible he just wanted to insult his opponent.

"As the leader of Team Rocket, you voluntarily stepped aside to let a subordinate take over? Looks like I overestimated you in the past."

Lance raised his right hand and pointed to the sky.

Both of his Dragonair released Tornado attacks simultaneously, disrupting the high-altitude wind currents and hindering Beedrill's movements. Meanwhile, Lance wasted no time in retaliating with his trash talk.

"Heh—having excellent successors around, it's not so bad for an old guy like me to retire early. What I'm more worried about is the future of the League. Letting trash like you become its face? What a joke."

Giovanni thought Lance's trash talk was utterly weak—it didn't hit any of his sore spots at all.

"The future of the League is none of your concern. Anyway, you don't have a future to worry about!"

Taking advantage of the moment when the two Dragonair disrupted Beedrill's movements, Dragonite launched a surprise attack with Extreme Speed.

Even though this Beedrill had been trained by Giovanni to break through its species' limitations, at the end of the day, it was still just a lightweight Pokémon, barely weighing 60 pounds. Under the chaotic swirling winds created by the two Dragonair, it seemed to wobble in midair like a drunken person.

"I'll finish you off with this move, you Team Rocket scum!"

Whoosh—!

As Dragonite closed in on Beedrill at full speed with Extreme Speed, it also unleashed Flamethrower from its mouth. Before the flames could even reach Beedrill, Dragonite itself was already engulfed in them during its charge.

Dragonite didn't know Flare Blitz, but by combining Extreme Speed and Flamethrower, it had created a move similar to Flare Blitz.

"This will end it!"

Boom—!!!

Engulfed in flames, the Dragonite—massively built from Lance's meticulous training—was nearly 1.5 times the size of an average Dragonite and weighed almost twice as much, rounding out to nearly a ton. It crashed into Beedrill, and from a distance, it looked like a dump truck had collided with a person.

Seeing this, the League trainers and viewers watching on their televisions burst into cheers.

"It hit! Lance's Dragonite landed a hit on that Beedrill!"

"Idiot! Call him Champion Lance!"

"Exactly! Although his performance earlier wasn't perfect, given that his opponent is a legend, if he defeats the leader of Team Rocket, then Mr. Lance fully deserves the position of champion!"

"Well done! That must've hurt!"

Lance smiled at the praise. Now, he could move on to focus on his next target, Jo...

But just as he was thinking this, his expression suddenly changed drastically.

Because from between Giovanni's high collar and fedora, Lance caught a glimpse of something—a faint, almost imperceptible smirk curling at the corner of Giovanni's lips.

"Mr. Lance, have you ever heard of the name Aptx4869?" Giovanni asked with a sly smile.