Who needs a girlfriend when you have Pokémon?

"..." Finally, the moment arrived. Lillie took a deep breath, then stood up seriously. "Yeah, let's go... Ugh..."

She had just made up her mind to take the first step when she twisted her ankle, kicking her right heel with her left foot, performing a perfectly executed flat-ground fall right in front of Luo Wei.

"!"

Gardevoir, quick-witted and agile, raised her hand and released a psychic energy. The psychic energy firmly held down the hem of Lillie's blue and white dress, preventing any part of it from being exposed.

Immediately, Gardevoir wore an expression that said, "Luckily, I made it in time," while Lore was both amused and exasperated.

"Um... normally, shouldn't you just use your telekinesis to catch the person? Don't show your thoughtfulness and attentiveness in weird, pointless places!"

As he muttered this to himself, Rowe stepped forward and helped Lillie up. "Are you alright?"

"Uh, it's nothing, it's just..."

Lillie blushed and turned her head away. Clearly, this was a situation that was "not very harmful but extremely insulting." She couldn't say anything for a while, and Rowe realized what was going on and coughed as well.

"Okay, let's pretend this never happened. And... you guys..."

When Luo Wei turned his head, he saw Gardevoir and Meowth looking away with expressions that said, "I don't know anything," leaving Luo Wei unsure of how to react.

Have they been overreacting to the women around them lately?

This thought didn't linger in Luo Wei's mind for long before being suppressed by the more pressing matters at hand.

"It's nice to see you again, Rowe..."

Not long had passed since their last parting in Wudou Town, so naturally there wasn't much small talk between them. After exchanging greetings, they got straight to the point.

Tie Xuan arranged a private room for them to talk. After confirming that they wouldn't be eavesdropped on, the group sat down. Luo Wei glanced at Lillie, who then took a deep breath and stood up.

"Daigo-san, um... let me introduce myself first. My name is Lillie..."

She removed her wig and colored contact lenses, revealing her true appearance. Daigo recognized her immediately; the blonde girl in front of him was the person the Alliance had commissioned him to find—Lillie, the little princess of the Aether Foundation.

"Yes, nice to meet you... Well, something wasn't quite clear in the previous communication, so I'd like to confirm it again here..."

Daigo's voice sounded very easygoing, without any airs of superiority. Of course, Rowe still clearly remembered the powerful aura that this man exuded the moment they first met.

Although he appears to be a rather easy-going and sunny handsome guy, he is actually the strongest man in the Hoenn region at this moment.

So even though he acted very easygoing, Lillie couldn't help but feel a little nervous when she spoke to him.

Tie Xuan, standing to the side, smiled and eased the tension, "Don't be so nervous, Da Wu is very easy to talk to. Just say what you want to say..."

“Yes…” Lillie composed herself before continuing, “Just like what Rowe said before, there are Ultra Beasts that are frequently appearing in the Hoenn region… no, in all regions, and the source is the experiment led by my mother!”

"..."

In fact, Daigo had already sensed something was amiss, so he didn't show much surprise. He simply continued to calmly press for answers.

"Was this President Rosamune's personal act, or was the Ether Foundation also involved...?"

"Well, right now, all I know is Mom... and a few other supervisors. The main part of the plan is to artificially manipulate the special energy behind the Ultimate Void..."

"Why would you do such a thing..."

Steven frowned upon hearing this, while Lillie replied helplessly, "I secretly looked at the research log. According to the records, the energy in the Ultra Deep can stimulate the life potential of Pokémon. It's said that this power can be used to better save Pokémon. If we can study and understand the principles behind it, many technologies that are currently stuck in a bottleneck can make new progress..."

"..."

The Ethereum Foundation has made significant achievements in medicine, genetic engineering, and biotechnology, and currently has many reliable and high-quality products. The Ethereum Foundation, a charitable organization, has earned its current wealth through these products.

That said, the reasons given seem plausible enough...

...At least it sounds much more plausible than going to the moon to find Chang'e.

Regardless of their initial intentions, at least based on the current results, their research has caused a large number of Ultra Holes to appear, which in turn attracted Ultra Beasts and caused a lot of chaos...

Moreover, is that really the "original aspiration"?

"I think everyone has probably been fooled by Mom. Her real purpose isn't like that at all. Her true purpose, well..."

At this point, Lillie's expression became very conflicted, as if she had recalled some very painful scene.

“Lillie…” Rowe stood up and patted her back. As if drawing strength from this action, Lillie’s expression softened a bit.

"I saw it! In the secret room of my mother's room... I saw a large number of Pokémon specimens!"

"..."

If it's just a specimen, it's not a big deal. After all, you can't just mess around with thin air when doing research, right? Anatomy is a legitimate science, and specimens of various organs are not uncommon.

However, it is clear that those specimens are different...

"...Those aren't ordinary specimens; those are live specimens. These Pokémon were made into specimens while they were still alive, and they even preserved the painful expressions they had just endured before being made into specimens, um..."

At this point, Lillie's voice choked with emotion. Rowe glanced at Daigo, who nodded silently in response.

Specimens are one thing, but... live specimens are another...

Making a specimen from the body of a deceased person after obtaining their consent before death is not unusual. However, making a specimen from a living person is an act of inhumanity, no matter where it is placed.

Pokémon are human companions, unlike animals in the conventional sense. After all, Pokémon can communicate with humans without barriers and are highly intelligent beings.

From this perspective, Pokémon are beings that enjoy equal rights with humans, and even the "gods" of this world are Pokémon.

Therefore, the act of turning live Pokémon into specimens is indeed quite heinous.

This also raises another issue: Rosamund, this woman...

...Does she really like Pokémon as much as she seems to?

Chapter 115 Little Nebula

Lusamine really likes Pokémon... at least on the surface.

Putting everything else aside, the Aether Foundation has indeed saved many rare Pokémon populations, including unique Pokémon species native to the Alola region. Many of these species only survive in the Aether Foundation's nature reserves, and if it weren't for the Aether Foundation's active efforts, these populations might have already gone extinct.

Every year, the Aether Foundation spends astronomical sums on Pokémon rescue activities. To be honest, if you didn't have any love for Pokémon, you probably wouldn't be able to do this much.

This is why the Aether Foundation has such a great reputation, which is vastly different from Team Rocket, which simply captures rare Pokémon for sale and even conducts numerous live Pokémon experiments.

Therefore, to deal with the Rockets, one could rally a large following with a single call, eventually gathering an elite team spanning several regions, and ultimately wiping them out in one fell swoop.

However, without sufficient evidence, it is impossible to get many people to respond if we want to deal with the Ethereum Foundation.

It's undisputed that President Lusamine loves Pokémon, but now her own daughter is questioning that.

She began to suspect that her mother's love for Pokémon was just a carefully crafted "persona," and that she might not actually like Pokémon that much.

"Maybe, my mother actually hates Pokémon..."

"..."

Although this is the world of Pokémon, most people born in this world are taught from a young age that Pokémon are humanity's most important partners.

Even if 99% of the world's population loves Pokémon, there will always be a 1% who are indifferent to Pokémon, or even hate it...

...They see Pokémon as mere tools, which is a rather vile idea in this world.

If President Lusamine is truly just using her love of Pokémon as a marketing tactic, and in reality she quite dislikes Pokémon, then revealing this fact would definitely cause a huge blow to the Aether Foundation's reputation.

It's even possible that this would send the Ether Foundation into space on the spot. Of course, such a thing would be very difficult to prove and would require a lot of physical evidence.

"...If it can be confirmed that President Lusamine's specimens are all live specimens and were all made by her, that would indeed be strong evidence. However, since Lillie discovered those specimens, they must have either been moved or disposed of."

President Lusamine certainly wouldn't keep these things. With her intelligence, she must understand the consequences of exposing these "evidences," and going to find them now would be futile, as there would be no way to prove anything.

Lillie lowered her head, remained silent for a while, and then picked up her handbag.

"I actually have another 'evidence,' but I don't know if it counts. This child... I brought him out of my mother's secret laboratory..."

"?!"

Daigo and Tetsuya watched in shock as Lillie opened her handbag, and with a shake, a little guy was revealed inside.

"Pokémon?"

The little creature looked like a shimmering nebula of gas, forming a tiny ball with rabbit-ear-like structures dangling from its head, and its small eyes filled with curiosity.

"I've never seen a Pokémon like this before..."

Grandpa Tie Xuan's tone was full of disbelief. Luo Wei took out the encyclopedia, and sure enough, the encyclopedia did not scan any record data at all.

"It's not any of the Ultra Beasts that have been discovered so far, this is really..."

Daigo also carefully observed the little guy, who confidently met everyone's gaze.

Behind Lowe, Meowth, Gardevoir, and Eevee also came over. The little guy's gaze swept over them, lingering on Meowth and Lowe for a while.

Then, it gave Rowe and Masked Cat a beautiful smile and shook what should have been its ears.

"...Hmm, this child seems to really like Rowe."

"is it?"

Rowe tentatively reached out his hand to the little guy, who confidently stuck out his ears. The instant Rowe's fingers touched the little guy's ears...

...The next second, golden flames burst forth from the bodies of Loew, Meowth, Gardevoir, and Eevee.

"what?!"

This sudden turn of events shocked Daigo and Grandpa Tetsuya once again, and Luo Wei was also very surprised.

He wasn't surprised that the other party could actually unleash ultimate power, after all, this little guy was also one of the sources of ultimate power. However, at that moment, a scene appeared in the minds of Luo Wei and everyone around him.

It was the scene that Luo Wei had seen when he first awakened his ultimate power: the clash between the four giants, the sun and moon totems, and the final radiant god.

Once he recovered from his shock, Daigo blurted out without hesitation, "This is... a legend from the Alola region, the giant guardians who are the incarnations of the four island gods. That sun and moon totem is the Sun and Moon gods who bring ultimate power. But what are that strange city, and what is that figure that fought against the Sun and Moon gods and the four island gods at the end?"

There are no records of this information in the legends, and Luo Wei only spoke tentatively.

"Ultimate power, the Sun and Moon Gods, and Ultra Beasts are all from another world. Could this be a scene from another world? The Four Island Gods, as the native gods of our Alola region, gained the ability to travel between worlds because they received the power blessed by the Sun and Moon Gods..."

So, does that mean that the giants who are the incarnations of the Sun and Moon Gods and the Four Island Gods are fighting against some kind of being from another world?

To gather the power of the four island gods and the two gods of the sun and moon, it seems they fought against equally matched opponents, their strength is truly unimaginable...

"If that's the case, then what exactly is this child...?"