Why would you need a girlfriend when you have Pokémon?

"..." The moment finally came. Lilia took a deep breath and stood up seriously. "Well, let's go... ah..."

She had just made up her mind and took the first step, then she twisted her foot and her left foot kicked the heel of her right foot directly, performing a very standard flat fall in front of Lowe.

"!"

Gardevoir on the side was quick-witted and quick-handed. She quickly raised her hand and released a telekinesis. Then, the hem of Lillie's blue and white dress was firmly held down by the telekinesis ripples, without revealing any part that should not be exposed.

Immediately, Gardevoir showed an expression of "luckily we made it in time" on his face, while Lowe was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

"Um... Normally, shouldn't you just use your telekinesis to hold the person up? Don't show your consideration and attentiveness in meaningless and strange places!"

While complaining, Lowe stepped forward and helped Liliae up, "Are you okay?"

"Well, it's okay, it's just..."

Liliae turned her head with a red face. This was obviously a situation of "not much harm, but extremely insulting". She was unable to say anything for a long time. Lowe also understood and coughed.

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

When Lowe turned his head, he saw Gardevoir and Catman turning their eyes away with an expression that said "the baby knows nothing", which made Lowe not know how to comment.

Have they been...overreacting to the women around them recently?

This thought did not last long in Lowe's mind before it was suppressed by the next important matter.

"We meet again, Lowe..."

It had not been long since they last parted in Wudou Town, so naturally there was not much polite talk between the two sides. After greeting each other, they went straight to the point.

Tiexuan arranged a secret room for the conversation. After making sure that there would be no eavesdropping, everyone sat down. Lowe glanced at Liliae, and she took a deep breath and stood up.

"Mr. Daigo, um... let me introduce myself first. My name is Liliae..."

She took off her wig and cosmetic contact lenses, revealing her true appearance. Daigo naturally recognized her at a glance. The blonde girl in front of him was the one he had been entrusted by the Alliance to find, the little princess Liliae of the Aether Foundation.

"Well, please give me your advice... Well, what I said in the previous communication was not very clear. Here, I hope to confirm it again..."

Daigo's voice sounded very easy-going, without any superiority at all. Of course, Lowe still clearly remembered the powerful aura that this man exuded in an instant when they first met.

Although he looks like a very easy-going sunny handsome guy, he is actually the strongest man in the Hoenn region at the moment.

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

Tie Xuan at the side laughed to ease the atmosphere, "Don't be so nervous, Daigo is easy to talk to, just say whatever you want to say..."

"Yes..." Liliae calmed down and continued, "Just like what Lowe said before, now in the Hoenn region... No, there are Ultra Beasts frequently appearing in various regions. The source is the experiment led by my mother!"

"..."

In fact, Daigo had already noticed it in advance, so he didn't show too much surprise. He just continued to ask calmly.

"Is it President Lusamine's personal behavior, or is the Ether Foundation also involved..."

"Well, now I know that my mother... and several other managers, the main part of the plan is to artificially manipulate the special energy behind the Ultimate Hole..."

"Why do you do this..."

Daigo frowned when he heard this, and Liliae answered helplessly, "I secretly read the research log. According to the record, the energy in the Ultra Hole can stimulate the life potential of Pokémon. It is said that this power can be used to better rescue Pokémon. If we can study and understand the principles, many technologies that were originally stuck in bottlenecks can make new progress at this stage..."

"..."

The Ether Foundation has made considerable achievements in medicine, genetic engineering and biotechnology. It currently has many very reliable products with excellent quality. The Ether Foundation is a charitable organization that has earned its current wealth through these products.

It can be said that this reasoning seems to make sense...

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

Regardless of their original intentions, at least judging by the current results, their research has caused a large number of Ultra Holes to appear, which has attracted Ultra Beasts and caused a lot of turmoil...

What’s more, is that really the “original intention”?

"I think everyone may have been deceived by my mother. My mother's purpose is not like this at all. Her real purpose, um..."

At this point, Liliae's expression was very conflicted, as if she was recalling something that made her very uncomfortable.

"Lilia..." Lowe stood up and patted her on the back. Lilia's expression seemed to have gained strength from this action and eased a little.

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

"..."

If it was just a specimen, it wouldn't be a big deal. After all, you can't do research in the air, right? Anatomy is a serious science, and specimens of various organs are not uncommon.

But, apparently those specimens were different…

"…Those are not ordinary specimens. They are living specimens. These Pokémon were made into specimens alive. They even retain the painful look they showed at the moment before they were made into specimens. Hmm..."

At this point, Liliae's voice was already choked with sobs. Lowe glanced at Daigo, who nodded silently.

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

There is nothing special about making a specimen of a deceased person's body after obtaining his or her consent before death. However, making a specimen of a living person can be considered an inhumane act no matter where it is placed.

Pokémon are human beings' companions and are different from animals in the general sense. After all, Pokémon can communicate with humans without obstacles and are highly intelligent and intellectual creatures.

From this point of view, Pokémon are beings that enjoy equal rights with humans, and even the "Gods" of this world are Pokémon.

Therefore, the act of turning living Pokémon into specimens is indeed quite bad.

At the same time, this also involves another problem, Lusamine, this woman...

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

Chapter 115: Little Nebula

Lusamine loves Pokémon... at least on the surface.

Putting aside other things, the Ether Foundation has indeed rescued many rare Pokémon populations, including exotic Pokémon unique to the Alola region. Many of these populations are only preserved in the nature reserves of the Ether Foundation. If it were not for the active operation of the Ether Foundation, these populations might have become extinct long ago.

Every year, the Aether Foundation spends an astronomical amount of funds on Pokémon rescue activities. Logically speaking, if it didn't have any love for Pokémon, it probably wouldn't be able to do this.

Because of this, the Aether Foundation has such a huge reputation, which is naturally very different from Team Rocket, which simply captures precious Pokémon for sale and even conducts a large number of Pokémon live experiments.

Therefore, to deal with the Rockets, we can just raise our hands and call for help, and eventually pull together an elite team spanning several regions, and finally catch them all in one fell swoop.

However, if we want to take action against the Ether Foundation, without sufficient evidence, it is impossible to get many responses.

President Lusamine loves Pokémon, and there should be no controversy about this in itself. However, now her own daughter has questioned this.

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

"Maybe, mother actually hates Pokémon..."

"..."

Although this is the world of Pokémon, most people born in this world have been taught since childhood that Pokémon are humans' most important companions.

But even if 99% of the people in this world like Pokémon, there will always be 1% who are indifferent to Pokémon, or even hate it...

...In their eyes, Pokémon are just tools, which is a very bad idea in this world.

If President Lusamine really was just using her love for Pokémon as a marketing tool, and she actually hated Pokémon, then once this fact was revealed, it would definitely deal a huge blow to the reputation of the Aether Foundation.

It is even possible that the Ether Foundation could be brought to justice. Of course, such a thing would be extremely difficult to prove, and there must be enough actual physical evidence.

"...If we can confirm that the specimens of President Lusamine are all living specimens and were all made by her, then that would be strong evidence. However, since Liliae discovered those specimens, then they must have been either moved or disposed of."

President Lusamine would certainly not keep these. With her intelligence, she must understand the consequences of these "evidences" being exposed. If she looks for them now, she will definitely not be able to prove anything.

Liliae lowered her head and was silent for a while, then she raised her shoulder bag.

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

"?!"

Daigo and Tiexuan watched in shock as Liliae opened her satchel. The satchel shook and a little kid appeared inside.

"Pokémon?"

The image of the little guy looked like a ball of gas sparkling with nebula light, forming a small cluster, with a structure like rabbit ears dangling on its head, and curiosity in its small eyes.

"I...have never seen this kind of Pokémon..."

There was disbelief in Mr. Tiexuan's tone. Lowe took out the atlas, and sure enough, there was no recorded data scanned in it.

"It's not any of the Ultimate Beasts that have been discovered so far. This is really..."

Daigo also observed the little guy carefully, and the little guy looked at everyone openly.

Behind Lowe, Meowth, Gardevoir and Eevee also came over. The little guy's eyes swept over them and stayed on Meowth and Lowe for a long time.

Then, it showed a beautiful smile to Lowe and Masked Cat and shook the part that should be its ears vigorously.

"...Well, this kid seems to like Lowe very much."

"is it?"

Lowe tentatively reached out his hand to the little guy, who generously stretched out his ears. When Lowe's fingers touched the little guy's ears...

…The next second, blazing golden flames appeared on the bodies of Lowe, Catman, Gardevoir and Eevee.

"what?!"

This sudden scene shocked Daigo and Grandpa Tiexuan again, and Lowe was also very surprised.

He was not surprised that the other party could actually trigger the ultimate power. After all, this little guy was also one of the sources of the ultimate power. But at this moment, a picture emerged in the consciousness of Lowe and everyone around him.

It was exactly the scene that Lowe saw when he first awakened his ultimate power, the battle between the four giants, the Sun and Moon Totems, and the final Glorious God.

Daigo, who had recovered from his shock, blurted out without hesitation, "This is... the legend of the Alola region. The giant guards who are the incarnations of the Four Island Gods. The sun and moon totems are the Sun and Moon Gods who bring the ultimate power. But, what is that strange city, and what is the figure that fought with the Sun and Moon Gods and the Four Island Gods at the end?"

There is no record of this information in the legend, and Lowe spoke tentatively.

"The Ultimate Power, the Sun and Moon Gods, and the Ultimate Beasts are all things from another world. Could this be a picture from another world? The Four Island Gods are the indigenous gods of the Alola region of our world. Because they have received the power bestowed by the Sun and Moon Gods, they have gained the ability to travel through the world..."

So that means that the giant guards who are the incarnations of the Sun and Moon Gods and the Four Island Gods are fighting against some kind of existence from another world?

To gather the power of the four island gods and the sun and moon gods, it seems that they are fighting an evenly matched opponent, and their strength is really unimaginable...

"If that's the case, who is this child..."