Pokémon Detective Case Files.

"Hmm—so you started spreading secondary information just based on a fleeting sense of crisis in order to protect yourself? I want to say that this approach is too conservative, but I have no right to criticize you after being completely defeated by the opposite action."

Hayden rhythmically shook his gray-haired head, his knuckles tapping the rounded end of his cane.

"You're incredibly lucky, as always. This time alone, your self-preservation tactics have been a resounding success. After all, even that Officer Jenny's family intelligence agent didn't suspect your strange name—Ah Ying."

“Speaking of which, I just remembered.” The butler’s uniform man, whose name was called, scratched his head.

“When introducing myself, in order to avoid trouble, I told them that my current job is related to security, so it is inconvenient to reveal my real name. In this way, I can get away with using a pseudonym or nickname instead of my strange-sounding name.”

"Heh, pseudonyms and real names, huh? This is really interesting..."

Perhaps he was thinking about his old classmate's experiment again, because Hayden was laughing so hard he was doubled over, showing absolutely no airs of a business tycoon.

"Medan probably never imagined in his life that the organization he desperately used as a shield—the Arceus Society, that illegitimate cult that has already fallen apart—was actually right under his nose. Just as he was making things up, the cult's designated next successor stood silently beside him. It's a shame we were still so arrogantly fantasizing about replacing the gods."

The lawless entrepreneur pressed his forehead and burst into unrestrained laughter. It was unclear whether he was mocking his companion's ignorance or ridiculing his own foolishness—

"Just as he was staring at the electronic screen, diligently calculating Arceus's real name, the shadow of Arceus had already quietly enveloped him. How ironic, how utterly ironic..."

“I think this is just your far-fetched interpretation, Mr. Hayden.”

The manager earnestly offered this advice, attempting to calm the employer down—

"The Arceus Society you mentioned isn't even a proper religious organization; at best, it's just a fraud ring created by some man to swindle money and women. And my name wasn't actually chosen for any ritualistic reason..."

"Oh? Isn't it because he is the successor of the so-called 'Messenger of Arceus' that he was specially named 'Projection of Arceus'?"

Hayden looked surprised.

"No, although I was indeed groomed by that man to be his next successor and was carefully taught his methods of gathering followers and manipulating faith, the name Aying was not given by him. It was my mother, who was blinded by the cult and thus developed a fanatical faith, who came up with it. So, rather than saying that it contains the will of God, it is more accurate to say that it embodies the ignorant dreams of a poor woman."

Ah Ying stated the heartbreaking truth upon closer examination, her face expressionless...

A father who deceives the world and a mother with fanatical faith—it's perhaps inevitable that a child born into such a family would have no reverence for God as he does today.

"A dream..."

Perhaps because the topic had become heavy, the director remained silent for a long time.

Hayden didn't speak again until the Steel-Armored Raven on the roof of the car flapped its steel wings a few more times.

"Judging from the fact that you still keep this strange name, you must have had a deep affection for this mother. Even though you were burdened with such heavy dreams, you still chose to run away from the society and leave home at that time. I suppose you were also suffering from a great deal of guilt back then."

"Back then, we were truly grateful to Hayden Pharmaceuticals and you, sir, for taking us in."

Ah Ying straightened her back in her seat and said.

"Not only that, you didn't care about my past at all, and made me, a person of unknown origin, your personal assistant in charge of your personal security. Later, you even went against the opinions of others and appointed me to take full charge of the reconstruction of the Mori Mansion."

"You don't need to be so grateful to me. Shortly after you officially became my assistant, that illegal society was dismantled and banned by the Sinnoh League, right? Even if you want to get involved with them now, you can only submit a prison visitation application. You have achieved your current position entirely because of your own abilities."

Hayden once again lifted his leg and cast his gaze upon the vast, clear sky ahead.

"Of course, the reason I trusted you so much when you first joined was simply because I had done my due diligence beforehand. You may not have noticed at the time, but before promoting you to my assistant, I commissioned a very reputable private investigator to investigate the backgrounds of all the candidates—although I didn't meet the investigator who completed the commission so quickly, I was quite surprised when I opened your background report in my office. At the same time, I immediately decided that you were the next assistant."

"I see. Having a certain amount of leverage over subordinates can actually help control their loyalty."

"Hmph, you can be quite outspoken sometimes. This kind of measured probing is actually quite to my liking, an old man like me."

Hayden did not refute, and continued to speak frankly and fairly.

"The reason I appointed you to rebuild the Forest Mansion is precisely because I saw that investigation report. The Arceus Society was able to gather so many followers because it cloaked itself in a flawless mythological guise, right? Having grown up in that environment, you should at least have a good understanding of the architectural structures and heraldic patterns of that kind of mysticism—it is for this reason that I ultimately decided to let you oversee the reconstruction of the Forest Mansion..."

At this point, the entrepreneur couldn't help but sigh again—

"Sigh, to be honest, choosing this mansion was a terrible decision. After this earthquake, we're sure to find no sucker willing to take over this piece of land without proper ownership. Even the finished android was completely destroyed in the accident, and restoring it to its original condition will be a huge expense, no less than repairing the mansion itself. We even have to spend money to rebuild the lightning rod for the Forest Manor to sustain the Rotom community living in the Hundred Generations Forest. Really, it's been a huge loss..."

"The Forest Mansion incident that happened here will probably end up in the newspapers with the headline 'Sinnoh Champion Discovers New Form of Pokémon Sealed for a Hundred Years,' right? I think that for Hayden Pharmaceuticals, the publicity effect from helping to discover the new form of Pokémon will more than make up for this loss. If the company can use the hype from Electrode and Crescent Wing to develop related healthcare products, it can even turn a profit."

Ah Ying cautiously expressed her thoughts.

"No, no, no, no," sighed the director of Hayden Pharmaceuticals, shaking his index finger.

"Of course we will do these profitable businesses, but that doesn't change the fact that we lost a lot of money because of Mori no Yokan. No matter when or where, under any circumstances, no matter how much the loss is or whether there is compensation, losses are always painful—a person who cannot feel this pain can never become a good businessman."

This is the exact wording of a miser...

Ah Ying maintained a calm expression, pretending not to hear anything and ignoring her employer's business acumen.

“You don’t need to think to yourself, ‘What a miser,’ while pretending you didn’t hear anything to avoid my attention. In fact, I’m saying this to you.”

Mr. Hayden's voice drifted to my ears on the wind.

"After completing the repair work on the android, I will officially end the android project scam."

His tone was full of regret and emotion.

"I will unfreeze the development progress that has been delayed for two years, synchronize all the achievements of the android project with our Galar allies, and declare the android development project a success."

"Of course, I also know that this will mean that once Hayden Pharmaceuticals announces the completion of this work, it will be immediately kicked out by those exploitative speculators. They will find a research institute with a greater advantage in the field of consciousness uploading to continue their grand project of creating 'immortal humans'."

"Next, my company will be silenced and suppressed by the latter. The so-called 'better to die than not monopolize' mentality—I understand those people's thoughts perfectly well. They will never be happy to see a company with the same technology as them maintain the scale of independently manufacturing androids in the long term."

"Soon, those usually subservient distributors on the board will reveal their profit-driven faces, and their meddling in the company's operations will shift from the previously harmonious and mutually beneficial cooperation to a predatory and ruthless pursuit of every penny. The company's businesses in the Galar region will also suffer from both overt and covert exclusion and attacks."

Aying did not question his employer's assessment of the future crisis. As a driver and bodyguard, he naturally accompanied Hayden to one business negotiation after another. Even if he couldn't see the tension between the companies at the negotiating table, he could get a glimpse of it from Hayden's complaints after the meetings.

He simply asked calmly—

"Given the dire situation, why did you choose to publicly disclose the development progress? Given the current circumstances, wouldn't maintaining that tacit understanding of keeping it a secret be more beneficial for the company?"

Even if it's delayed until the very end when the plan is exposed, it shouldn't be worse than the situation Hayden described, right?

“That won’t do. I’ve learned a lesson from the Mori Mansion incident—no matter how ingenious a deception is, it can’t work perfectly forever. Besides, if we don’t give up some small gains, we won’t be able to lower our guard.”

While expressing views diametrically opposed to those stated earlier, Director Hayden wore a sly smile reminiscent of Mannequin.

"While revealing the true progress of the android project to our allies, I will secretly take Medan and a group of core technical personnel to a region beyond the reach of that 'club' to establish a new company—and in the name of that company, preemptively register all patents related to androids. The Galar conglomerates will have only just acquired the relevant technology at that time, and they certainly can't outpace us—and then, the interesting part begins..."

Aying seemed to see a dark aura emanating from Hayden, like that of an illegitimate religious leader—a greed and desire so vast it could almost solidify into a physical form.

"I can use Hayden Pharmaceuticals' assets to acquire a small local listed company, control all its shares, and then merge the new company with the android patent with that listed company. In this way, we can completely circumvent the restrictive treaties related to Hayden Pharmaceuticals. We can also achieve two goals at once by backdoor listing, allowing the first real android company in human history to officially appear on the stock market of that region! Hehehe, when that time comes, we can turn around and, together with our new allies who have re-established ties through the stock market, monopolize and suppress the Galerian conglomerates, and completely settle this grudge."

"...Mr. Hayden, you really do seem like a sea cucumber who's good at taking others down with him."

In front of her eloquent employer, Ah Ying suddenly said something out of the blue, which made Hayden burst into laughter again.

"Yes, yes! Rather than cutting off the tail to survive, mutual destruction is more my style. Business is a game of mutual exploitation. If you don't tear flesh and blood off others, you'll be like a serpent that eats its own tail, destroying yourself in endless greed... So."

Looking into his subordinate's eyes, the entrepreneur said—

"I need someone to act as my agent at the board meetings of Hayden Pharmaceuticals in the Sinnoh region. This person needs to have a keen sense of crisis, to protect Hayden Pharmaceuticals' assets to the greatest extent possible in the brutal business world beset by internal and external troubles; to be fearless in the face of mysterious enemies who are like the masterminds behind the scenes, and to ensure that they do not fall into a situation of being manipulated under any circumstances; and also need a little experience and skill in deception to cover up my actions in other regions."

“I carefully reviewed my business partners and friends and relatives, only to find that they were either not smart enough to take on this responsibility, or they would run away with the money within a day of gaining power. So now, I only have one option left.”

Hayden continued to stare intently at his personal assistant, the bodyguard and driver who had served him for many years and accompanied him to countless business meetings.

Aying was not too shaken.

He had already sensed Hayden's intentions from the previous hints. Since he hadn't reacted then, it would be too pretentious to feign surprise now.

"Judging from your tone, Mr. Hayden, it seems that the master's shareholding in Hayden Pharmaceuticals is not limited to the current percentage."

“Not much,” Hayden said. “Only fifty-one percent.”

He added, "The current chairman has some secrets about me, and there are also some routine operations like cross-shareholdings, which can bring the figure to this level. Unfortunately, the dealer alliance has too many informants, and without arousing their suspicion, this is the most I can do."

Fifty-one percent sounds easy, but in reality, it represents almost all the wealth Mr. Hayden has accumulated since he started his medical device company from scratch.

And now, he's going to entrust everything to an insignificant assistant, the son of an illegal religious leader.

Even if this is just a temporary expedient, it still represents a trust that is even heavier than Tianguan Mountain.

Ah Ying took a deep breath and uttered his last words before accepting the appointment.

He pointed to the window—

“I think I see Officer Jenny riding a Starhawk in the distance, delivering the Evil Thunder Bombs. Let’s drag her from the intelligence agency into this too.”

"Hahaha! I knew I hadn't chosen the wrong person!"

The old man's cheerful laughter immediately filled the entire carriage.

"However, let's wait until we land before going to find her. After all, it would be bad if that Electric-type self-destructing Pokémon woke up in the sky."

.

Just as Director Hayden was making the most important gamble of his life, hundreds of meters in the air—

"Pokekiss, are you sure there's no one else around the forest?"

Watching the blessed Pokémon swirling down from the sky, Cynthia Champion stood up from the roof of the Forest Mansion.

Before that, she had been sitting in the huge shadow of the mansion's spire, silently watching the gradually brightening sunrise.

"Whoosh—"

The white Tokiss landed gracefully, letting out a cry of approval.

The champion stroked Togekiss's head feathers, then looked to the other side—

"Lucario, can you still sense that waveguide?"

The silent steel warrior remained silent, his eyes still closed, his brows deeply furrowed.

His hands, covered in bone spurs, were held steadily in the air, as if unwilling to miss any tremor in the air.

The Sinnoh champion wore a thoughtful expression—

"Ever since that warning sign before leaving the mansion, I've been able to sense hostility in the vicinity, but I haven't been able to pinpoint its direction... Thankfully, this at least means that the threat isn't aimed at Officer Jenny or Medan."

She looked around again, gazing at the silent sea of ​​trees.

Waiting like this isn't a solution.

Are we really going to wait until our own elves are exhausted before facing a suddenly appearing enemy who has recharged?

It seems that we have no other choice but to use that method.

Hopefully, Professor Mei Dan, who is currently sitting in the wind-blown gondola, won't accuse her of plagiarizing an idea.

So, the champion bamboo orchid stood upright on the rooftop, facing the blue sky where the sun was high in the sky. Her golden hair was blown by the gentle morning breeze, and the teardrop pendant on her chest sparkled in the sunlight.

She cleared her throat and, as if reciting a prayer, spoke the following words to the endless forest—

"The reason why Eternal Forest can nurture such a thriving sea of ​​trees in the harsh Sinnoh region is twofold. First, its geographical location near the western sea provides ample moisture and balances the overall temperature, preventing the area from becoming too dry in summer and too frigid in winter. Second, the uplifted terrain of the Corolla Mountains causes the moisture in these sea breezes to turn into rain, which falls to the earth, nurturing thousands of green plants and a wide variety of wild Pokémon."

"Forests grow, and all things are covered in frost, which is why there are four seasons of growth and decay. It is because of the lush ecosystem of the Hundred Generations Forest that this region has become the place with the most distinct seasonal divisions in all of Sinnoh."

"In the summer, when the chirping of insects fills the air, the sweltering heat from the mountain's altitude intertwines with the torrential downpours. Rivers flowing from the snow-capped mountains bring even more water, trees grow luxuriantly, and flowers bloom in succession. At this time, long-winged gulls migrating with the sea breeze fly alongside the forest eels, grasshoppers and newly sprouted tussock insects climb the branches, shy buds and sharp-toothed crickets smile in the grass, little cat monsters and lek cats call for thunder and lightning in the downpour, and cherry blossoms bloom brilliantly under the blazing sun. This is a season of vigorous growth for all things."

"In autumn, due to the ocean absorbing heat and the mountains blocking low-pressure cold air masses, this area becomes the region in Sinnoh that enters winter the latest—making the autumn in Eternal Forest exceptionally long. At this time, the leaves turn golden, and a brisk autumn wind sweeps through the forest, followed by a golden downpour. Cocoon and Carapace evolve in droves during this period, forming magnificent ribbons that dance in the air. Among the layers of fallen leaves below, Enchantress sings loudly, Sudatta enjoys the dry environment, and Snorlax gathers ripe, fallen berries. The pits left over are hoarded by Pachirisu as an emergency reserve for winter—this is the harvest season, a busy and bountiful time."

"As winter descends, the snow that was once ubiquitous in the Sinnoh region gradually appears on the treetops of the hardy plants in Eterna Forest. Temperatures drop below freezing, and the once-rushing streams are gradually blocked by ice. At this time, Bug and Grass-type Pokémon huddle underground and in tree hollows, the only exception being the Forest's Grass Lady, who wraps herself in even thicker coats to keep warm. At this time, Pokémon migrating from the snow-capped mountains become frequent visitors to this forest. Wild Boars dig into the soil, searching for sweet and delicious mushrooms, while Snowcap curiously follows the tracks of various creatures in the snow. Due to food shortages, Zubat and Murkrow become more active, while the Sylveon from the snow-capped mountains become the most ferocious thieves in the darkness. The Noctowl and Staraptor flocks must unite, taking turns day and night to guard each other's unhatched eggs. This is undoubtedly a season of tranquility yet full of risks."

As Zhu Lan spoke, the surrounding air gradually became quiet and still.

Lucario stopped searching for the waveguide, opened its eyes, and cast its gaze toward a certain point high in the sky.

The prayers of the Sinnoh region champions have not stopped—

"And at this moment, summer has passed, autumn's traces have vanished, and winter's footsteps are gradually receding. I have already heard it, heard the sound of the last snowflake melting, heard the clear sound of the river flowing again, heard the rustling sound of the elves emerging from the tree hollows, heard the reluctant steps of the Snowcap Monster returning to the snow mountain, heard the sound of the Grass Lady shedding her thin coat, heard the sound of branches sprouting and new leaves growing, heard the sound of water vapor gathering and turning into a thin mist, heard the sound of you from afar, crossing the ocean to reach Sinnoh."

For some reason, a pink mist gradually spread around the Forest Mansion. Togekiss nervously raised its head feathers, on guard against any enemies that might appear at any moment.

However, the Pokémon that arrived with the changing seasons has yet to reveal its true form.

"It's understandable, after all, spring always arrives late."

Zhu Lan took down the ancient documents she kept at her waist and slowly turned to a certain page of the poetry collection—

"God of the fields, God of spring."

"Flying across the verdant sky, bringing new life."

"God of Spring, where do you come from?"

"The God of Spring is silent, knowing only that once the cold winter is gone, spring will come naturally."

As the Sinnoh champion chanted, a cloud in the sky gradually began to stir.

Undeterred, Zhu Lan continued to raise her voice—

"Beloved Spring God, stern Spring God! It is said that old leaves that survive the cold winter often fall in droves when the spring breeze blows, and snakes and insects in the burrows are awakened from their dreams by the fierce spring thunder. You must be very angry now, right?"

"You, who should have been fairly protecting all life, witnessed in the place you considered your home the absurd atrocity of ignoring the will of life and forcibly freezing it for a hundred years; witnessed the madman who created life without permission and shamelessly intended to replace the gods; witnessed the pathetic spirit who did not cherish its body at all and dismantled itself inch by inch."

"But despite your immense anger, you are also incredibly sensible and possess extraordinary wisdom. You know that this anger should not be vented on anyone, which is why you are now restrainedly guarding the sky above this mansion. You probably intend to use the destruction of this deserted mansion as the price for your anger, right?"