Pokemon: I Transmigrated Twice-Chapter 229: Pokemon: I Transmigrated Twice []

Here you go:

14 new reviews = 14 extra Chapters.

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According to Diantha, after deliberation among the Kalos League higher-ups, they decided to let Malva continue as a member of the Kalos Elite Four.

Although yesterday the whole world saw Lysandre's crimes—releasing the evil Hoopa—broadcast live, Malva herself didn't do anything extreme in the footage. She even saved Baraz's life.

So, the public is still unaware that Malva was working with Lysandre.

Someone strong enough to control a tier-one legendary Pokémon—after thinking it over, the Kalos League felt it would be a waste to just throw away such talent by locking her up, so they talked to Malva and hoped she'd continue as an Elite Four member.

Stephen recalled the events and found them to be accurate.

Back at the Lumiose Arena, the one who opened the Prison Bottle was Lysandre, and Malva hadn't done anything particularly outrageous—other than attacking Joker, but Joker was a criminal too. An Elite Four member attacking a criminal isn't out of the ordinary, right? So the public still doesn't know Malva was part of Team Flare.

Stephen was a little taken aback, but not surprised. After all, in the games, even after Malva's identity was exposed, she still served as an Elite Four member. In the manga, Lance and Pryce are even better examples—they did far worse and still returned as champion and gym leader, respectively.

You could say that, when it comes to talent, the League is pretty forgiving.

"But, why switch over to Alola?" Stephen asked.

"She said she wants revenge on Joker, and Kalos can't help her fulfill that wish," Diantha replied helplessly.

Stephen: ... Damn.

He remembered—just like in the game, Malva, like her anime counterpart, helped the protagonist stop Team Flare, but she still held a deep grudge against the protagonist for defeating Lysandre.

If Serena got that much hate just for beating Lysandre, then Joker, who killed Lysandre, must be someone Malva wishes she could tear to pieces.

"She wants me to help her get revenge? Not interested," Stephen said, amused. "But honestly, sending her to Alola isn't a bad idea. Truthfully, the Kalos League can't keep her in check."

Diantha admitted this honestly if a bit shamefacedly. They understood Malva's true strength now—she was far above Diantha herself as Champion, and the relatively weak Kalos League had nobody who could keep her in line.

But Alola was different. Not even counting Stephen, just Karen (already set to become an Alola Elite Four) and Peony (former Galar Champion) weren't afraid of Malva at all.

"What a joke! Letting a criminal back as an Elite Four member?!"

A cold scolding voice came from outside the door.

Everyone turned to see Goodshow entering, with Lance in tow.

To Lance who abhors evil, the idea that Malva—Team Flare's number two—could return to a high position in the League after so many disgraceful acts was utterly humiliating!

Stephen tried not to laugh.

'You're slapping your future self in the face with those words, Lance. When you rebelled and got defeated, the League still called you back to be Champion. Didn't see you refuse then.'

"Mr. Lance, Team Rocket is really strong right now," Diantha said, frowning. "We need to unite every force we can."

The League's forgiveness of Malva's past wasn't just because they didn't want to waste a high-level Champion-tier trainer in jail. There was another important reason: at the festival yesterday, Diantha heard from Stephen that evil Hoopa had been captured by Joker.

That news made Diantha, Leon, and the others break out in a cold sweat.

If Joker now had seven tier-one legendary Pokemon, plus Shadow Lugia, that's a total of eight! Even if you combined all the Leagues, they might not be able to fight that.

Although Stephen said yesterday that Giratina, Kyurem, and the other legendaries likely wouldn't fall for the same trick twice, he also didn't plan to use evil Hoopa's ability unless necessary. After yesterday, evil Hoopa had already offended six legendaries—control them any more, and you'd make enemies of all the legends. Best to use that power sparingly.

Still, even with just Shadow Lugia and evil Hoopa, Joker's team was terrifying. Not to mention his Umbreon, Houndoom, and others—they weren't pushovers.

And don't forget, with evil Hoopa, Team Rocket could open portals anywhere. Joker could stab you in the back any time!

For all these reasons, Diantha and the Kalos executives felt they should try to keep Malva.

"Mr. Lance, I think Champion Diantha has a point," Leon chimed in.

Lance's face darkened as he began to argue, but Goodshow interrupted first: "Alright, let's all sit down. Once everyone is here, we'll vote."

Before long, the Unova League chairman and Champion Alder, Sinnoh League Chairman Cyrus, Hoenn League Chairman and Champion Wallace, and others arrived.

"Cynthia, you've worked hard," said Cyrus, looking a bit too young compared to the other chairmans—his face didn't look like someone who was 26.

Stephen struggled not to smirk.

'Just took out an undercover chairman yesterday, and another one shows up today. Why do all these criminal bosses like being League chairmans so much?'

Once everyone was seated, the meeting quickly began.

Stephen recapped what happened after the Champions were teleported away yesterday. The main points:

Lysandre's real identity: the leader of Kalos' biggest crime syndicate, aiming to use Xerneas and Yveltal to activate the ultimate weapon and destroy all humans and Pokémon except Team Flare, creating a new, perfect, eternal world.

While they won the battle yesterday, evil Hoopa was captured and taken away by Joker.

After being controlled, Zygarde—the god of order—was deeply distrusted by humans; the Kalos League needs to pay close attention to this going forward.

Blue Core Zygarde didn't trust humans much to begin with, and after being manipulated by Lysandre, he must be furious—maybe not as kill-on-sight as Yveltal, but close.

So Stephen felt the need to remind Diantha and the others.

Diantha listened gravely, but could only try to do damage control for Lysandre.

Then she said, "Everyone's heard about Malva, right? The Kalos League hopes she can continue as an Elite Four member. I know not everyone will accept this, but with Team Rocket getting stronger, we need to unite every force we can. If we transfer Malva to Alola, Dr. Stephen and Miss Morgan will be able to keep an eye on her... Any thoughts?"

After learning that Joker had captured the all-powerful Hoopa, the atmosphere in the conference room was somber. Everyone looked at each other; except for Lance, all agreed.

Lance, face dark, said, "So just to deal with Team Rocket, you're willing to throw away your dignity?!"

Rose sneered, "If you're so confident, why don't you go defeat Joker yourself? Looks like you can't even beat Team Rocket's boss, let alone Joker."

"Calm down!"

Wallace and Alder rushed to reassure Lance as his face grew even gloomier.

"There's one other thing: yesterday, evil Hoopa summoned Black Kyurem, which means the Hero of Ideals of this generation has already appeared," said the Unova League chairman, changing the subject. "But I haven't found out who it is yet."

Every few decades or centuries, Reshiram and Zekrom choose a partner and start their cycle of rivalry again—it's common in Unova. Every trainer there dreams of being chosen by the twin dragons.

"If we could get these two heroes to help us with the dragons, the League would be much stronger," Goodshow said hopefully.

"That's unlikely. If we can get either one to help, we're lucky," said the Chairman Dragon Granny. Since 2,500 years ago, the partners chosen by Zekrom and Reshiram have always been rivals.

"Do the twin dragons only choose Unova people?"

Lance suddenly asked.

"At least so far, they've always chosen Unova trainers," said the Old Granny.

Lance fell silent, deep in thought.

"Chairman Cyrus, this is my transfer request—please take a look," Cynthia said, handing over a document.

Everyone was stunned to see that Cynthia wanted to transfer from Sinnoh to Alola.

Why? She was doing fine as Champion—why leave?

Cyrus paused, then smiled. "I don't know why you're doing this, Cynthia, but I support your decision."

Good! The fewer strong trainers in Sinnoh, the easier it would be for Team Galactic to operate.

"Cynthia, why are you suddenly transferring to Alola?"

Diantha asked, incredulous.

Cynthia didn't answer—she just glanced at Stephen.

Of course, it was to keep an eye on him!

But Diantha caught the look.

The Kalos Champion immediately misunderstood.

...

After the meeting, Diantha and the others brought Malva to see Stephen.

"Team Flare is gone, Lysandre is dead, so now your whole life's goal is to kill Joker?"

Stephen asked, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at the fiery woman in front of him.

"To be honest, seeing your face—so much like his—makes it hard to suppress my burning anger," Malva replied, no longer bothering to hide her true self.

Stephen just looked bored.

"The Alola League has no reason to refuse a Champion-level trainer, but I'm not interested in your grudge against Joker."

Stephen was still aligned with Lusamine and the Alola League. If a Champion-level trainer wanted to join, he wouldn't refuse. But if Malva ever did go after Joker, he wouldn't show mercy.

"No problem. As long as you let me stay in Alola," Malva said.

After Lysandre's death, she'd thought a lot. She was no match for Joker on her own, so her only hope was to work with Stephen—the only person who could stand up to that monster.

...

"Who gets the open Gym position?" Karen asked Stephen over dinner.

"Isn't there an Elite Four spot open? Let Cynthia take it as a reserve," Stephen replied calmly.

"Hehe, I remember Unova's Caitlin is Cynthia's fangirl. She'll probably give you trouble when she hears about this," Will said, grinning with a mouth full of sauce.

Up until last year, wherever Cynthia went, she took Caitlin along. Caitlin's psychic powers were once extremely unstable, often going berserk when emotionally upset, especially after losing battles—sometimes nearly killing opponents and their Pokémon. So her family had Cynthia act as her tutor, teaching her to control her emotions and powers. Since then, Caitlin had been Cynthia's number one fangirl—even openly admitting her admiration in interviews. Many Yuri fans shipped them.

Honestly, if Cynthia were a guy, Caitlin would have already jumped into her arms.

"Hehe, if you end up sleeping with Cynthia, that little Yuri girl will probably fall apart," Will teased.

No sooner had he finished speaking than Karen dumped a plate of food in his face.

"What the hell's wrong with you now, crazy woman?!"

Will screamed as the hot food burned him.

Despite both being Stephen's oldest companions, Karen and Will never got along.

While Karen scolded Will, Lusamine shared her worries with Stephen. It was obvious Cynthia was here to keep an eye on him. Even though there was a huge power gap, Lusamine still felt you could never be too careful. She considered bringing Cynthia's only two relatives—her grandmother, Sinnoh's history professor Dr. Carolina, and her five-year-old sister—to Alola, as a subtle warning: "Don't try anything, your family's here."

Although thoughtful, Stephen ultimately waved it off.

...

After dinner, Stephen went alone to the Hano Grand Resort on Akala Island, where Cynthia was staying.

When she opened the door and saw Stephen, her expression was priceless, but she quickly regained her composure.

"In my hometown, it's customary to bring a gift when visiting. Here, take this," Stephen said, handing her an Ultra Ball meant for catching Ultra Beasts.

"What do you want?"

Cynthia asked, lips pursed.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that? You came all the way from Sinnoh to my turf," Stephen replied, amused. "But I already know why."

"You probably think that by staying in Alola, you can monitor me and report to the League if I act up. But with Hoopa, I can just open a portal and leave anytime. By the time you know, it'll be too late."

Stephen made himself at home, stretching out.

Cynthia bit her lip. She knew Stephen was right, but being close was still better than being far away. If things went south, at least being in Alola gave her a chance to do something—better than sitting in Sinnoh doing nothing.

"Forget it. Let's have a heart-to-heart talk," Stephen said, pulling out a chair for Cynthia.

She hesitated, then sat down.

But Stephen's first words almost made her jump up: "If you want to kill me, go ahead. Don't worry, I'm not carrying any Pokémon—no Bewear, no little Hoopa."

Cynthia's blue eyes nearly popped out from under her blond bangs.

Stephen even took off his jacket and showed his empty belt—no Poké Balls in sight.

"W-what do you mean?" Cynthia was lost.

Even her Pokémon—Garchomp and Lucario—were stunned.

"I just want to talk you out of it. Don't overthink things," Stephen said, tapping Cynthia's forehead with his finger, Itachi-style. "You probably won't believe this, but I like you. I can't bear to watch you self-destruct like this. If you keep spiraling, you'll go crazy."

"You can either expose my true identity and get the whole League to deal with me, or just let it go, go back to Sinnoh, live your life, and stop worrying about me."

"Even if you killed me now, what would it change? My Pokémon, and Karen, Will, and the others, would just take revenge on the League and the world. This is beyond your power to stop. Just go home and relax."