Pokemon: I Transmigrated Twice

In the end, after discussions between the two parties, they decided to sign the contract in two days. During these two days, each side would go back to organize their materials.

Stephen's side focused on organizing the research materials for the TM device. On Lusamine's side, they compiled research data on Ultra Beasts gathered over the years.

"Umbre…"

 Back at their forest base on the outskirts of Hau'oli City, while organizing the materials, Stephen noticed that Umbreon seemed a little down.

"It's okay, it's not anything too precious. This stuff was meant to be shared anyway," Stephen said while patting Umbreon on her little head.

"Umbre…"

 Umbreon lay in front of Stephen, letting him pet her, but in her mind, she resolved to grow stronger—strong enough to repay her trainer one day!

"Stephen, phone call," Will called out to remind him.

Stephen turned to look and saw a video call request displayed on the computer screen.

As soon as Stephen clicked on it, Giovanni's face appeared on the screen.

"Oh~ Uncle, long time no see," Stephen said as he sat down and waved casually.

["You brat, you never take the initiative to contact me," Giovanni replied with a slight smile. Then, with a somewhat peculiar expression, he asked, "Are you in Alola right now?"]

"Uncle, you've seen the news? These news sure travel far," Stephen replied, knowing full well how distant Alola was from Kanto.

["Choosing a partner is your freedom. I don't want to meddle in your love life. But I did some digging on Lusamine, and honestly, this woman is deep water—I'm afraid you might be in over your head…"]

On the screen, Giovanni held up a stack of documents. They were all related to Lusamine and the Aether Foundation.

After hearing about Stephen's scandal yesterday, Giovanni had his secretary, Matori, investigate Lusamine.

On the surface, Lusamine indeed appeared flawless, just as the rumors described her—beautiful, gentle, and compassionate.

Aside from having two children, she seemed to have no shortcomings at all.

 Well, of course, to some people, that might not even be a flaw—it might be a bonus.

But upon closer inspection, Giovanni noticed some issues.

On the surface, the Aether Foundation appeared no different from a typical Pokémon Welfare Organization. They took in Pokémon abandoned by trainers or their herds, unable to survive in the wild, and either released them back into nature or found suitable trainers for them.

Their side project involved research on Ultra Beasts.

But… with just this kind of operation, how could they have so much money?

Research, after all, burns through cash like nothing else.

Giovanni himself wasn't sure how much money he'd sunk into the Strongest Artificial Pokémon project and Stephen's research. It had even caused Rocket Team to face financial difficulties.

So where did Lusamine get all her money?

He felt this woman was anything but simple.

"Whether it's deep water or not, we'll see in the future. Anyway, I'm about to get my hands on what I want. Did you get what I asked for, Uncle?" Stephen diverted the conversation.

["Heh, that reagent with the codename APTX4869 is quite an interesting thing,"] Giovanni said with a sly smile.

["Honestly, I'd rather use it on humans than Pokémon. Imagine using it on Lance and turning him into a little kid… hahahaha~"]

["But with your age, trying to court Lusamine might be a bit difficult. Want me to teach you a thing or two?"] Giovanni teased, seeming rather amused by the whole situation.

Stephen was at a loss for words. Were you a playboy in your younger days?

"Well... let's talk about this later. The only thing I want right now is Lusamine's research findings."

Stephen admitted Lusamine's beauty—anyone with eyes could see it. However, compared to Lusamine herself, what he cared about more was the research data on the Ultra Beasts.

It definitely wasn't because his younger brother hadn't yet evolved from his growth phase to maturity. Absolutely not!

["Oh? Tell me more,"] Giovanni said with curiosity. He was also quite interested in why Stephen had gone all the way to Alola. He didn't believe Stephen would borrow a plane and travel thousands of miles just to confess to a married woman.

...

It had been a while since Stephen had chatted with Sakaki, so he spent some time talking with this empty-nest elder who had lost his son. Stephen recounted his purpose and everything that had happened that day in detail.

"Karen knows how to haggle. I didn't expect her to have such a talent," Stephen said with a chuckle.

However, compared to Stephen's relaxed demeanor, Giovanni's brows furrowed more and more tightly. Noticing this, Stephen asked, "What's wrong, uncle?"

["Stephen, could you give me the sales rights for that move machine?"]

"Oh?" Stephen raised an eyebrow.

Giovanni explained, ["Honestly, the research funding I provided you, along with the strongest artificial Pokémon project I've had my people work on, has burned through so much money that it's left my finances in a precarious state. So, I'm shamelessly asking if you could let me have the sales rights."]

Giovanni had also considered taking over Silph Co. However, he realized that doing so would be extremely risky. After all, Silph Co. was one of the most prominent business giants on the Pokémon continent. Even if Team Rocket succeeded, a single mistake in any of the intermediate stages could trigger a domino effect. Giovanni didn't want to resort to such a dangerous move unless necessary.

"A day ago, this wouldn't have been an issue. But now, I've already promised Lusamine and the research data I want is still in her hands. This might be difficult to manage," Stephen said, frowning slightly.

The atmosphere turned silent for a moment.

["Wait, I've got it!"] Giovanni's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Huh?" Stephen was startled. "Did you have any suggestions?"

Giovanni smiled and said, ["Stephen, don't worry about it. Just stick to the original plan and meet Lusamine in two days. I'll have a surprise for you by then."]

A surprise? More like a potential shock, Stephen thought to himself. However, he didn't press further. When it came to scheming, even with three lifetimes of experience, Stephen wouldn't dare claim he could outplay Giovanni. It was best to leave such matters to the experts.

...

Two days later, Stephen and his two companions, having organized their materials, returned to the Aether Foundation for their third meeting with Lusamine. This time, Kukui and Burnet were absent.

"Stephen, these are the research findings we've compiled over the years regarding Ultra Beasts and Ultra Space," Lusamine said, her tone noticeably warmer after their collaboration had been established. She handed a USB drive to Stephen.

After Stephen nodded in thanks, he handed Lusamine the USB drive containing data on TM.

Stephen inserted the USB drive Lusamine had given him into his laptop, eager to check its contents, while silently wondering what Giovanni was up to.

Standing next to Lusamine, Faba inexplicably swallowed nervously.

"Here are the contracts,"

 Wicke placed two contracts in front of Stephen.

Karen picked one up and began examining it.

"Chairwoman Lusamine, what does this mean?"

Just as Karen confirmed there were no hidden tricks in the contract and prepared to hand the pen to Stephen, his voice suddenly erupted with suppressed anger.

The moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere in the room instantly shifted.

Karen and Will's gazes grew stern.

On the other side, Lusamine and Wicke looked utterly perplexed.

They couldn't understand why Stephen's attitude had changed so abruptly.

As for Faba, he stepped back in fright, thinking, "Did he figure it out?"

Frowning, Lusamine spoke:

 "Mr. Stephen… is there a problem?"

Noticing Stephen's drastic change in attitude, Lusamine even adjusted the way she addressed him.

"You haven't given me all the data," Stephen said, his eyes flashing with rare anger.

The data he had been given did not contain the information he valued most—the research on Silvally, or rather, the AR System.

In other words, the Aether Foundation had deliberately withheld key information!

"That's impossible!" Lusamine exclaimed in disbelief.

She had personally reviewed this data multiple times and was certain it was complete.

What Lusamine didn't know was that the Silvally-related information Stephen wanted was managed by Faba, the head of the research department.

Recently, Faba had lied to Lusamine, claiming that the Type: Null Project had been a complete failure to cover up his secret experiments with Ultra Wormholes.

As a result, the so-called failed data had naturally been excluded from the files.

In truth, the Type: Null Project had succeeded.

The Pokémon in question was currently locked in the basement of the research department under Faba's supervision. Lusamine, however, was entirely unaware of this.

Thus, a misunderstanding was born.

But that was no longer important, because…

Bang!

The villa's front door was violently kicked open.

A scruffy-looking man with a mustache swaggered in, followed by a group of thugs. Walking in a crab-like gait, he smirked and barked:

"Nobody moves!"