"You're going out?"
Seeing Lucas hang up the phone, Giovanni lifted his head and gave him a brief glance.
"Yeah, A friend from Sinnoh asked me to lend a hand. I'm actually quite interested."
Lucas stretched lazily as he rose to his feet. Indigo had finally begun to calm down.
Team Rocket needed to lie low for now—Giovanni was patiently waiting for Mewtwo to fully awaken. Only once he possessed Mewtwo would he have the confidence to confront the Indigo League head-on.
Lucas was indeed strong—he even possessed two legendary Pokémon—but Giovanni knew better than to pin all his hopes on him.
After all, Team Rocket was his Team Rocket, not Lucas's.
When the real decisive battle came, the main force of Team Rocket would still have to be Giovanni himself. Lucas could not be expected to give it his all for an organization that wasn't truly his.
Giovanni understood this very well.
Because Lucas hadn't placed all his bets on Team Rocket either. Aside from this identity, Lucas clearly had other organizations and agendas of his own.
But until Mewtwo awoke, it was likely that the Indigo would remain in this rare state of calm.
"You're right—there's not much for you to oversee at the moment. But there is an organization I think you should look into." Giovanni nodded thoughtfully after a moment of silence.
"Oh? Someone looking for me?" Lucas's eyes showed a spark of interest.
"Yes. You know the Alola region, right?"
"Alola, huh—the famous tropical archipelago for tourism and leisure. Come to think of it, didn't Kukui apply to establish a Pokémon League there earlier this year?" Lucas rested his chin on his hand, looking intrigued.
The mention of Alola immediately piqued his interest—after all, that region had its own unique allure.
Ultra Beasts!
"You mean that foreigner who challenged Dragon Master Lance?" Green, who had been scrolling on her phone, suddenly raised her head in surprise. She remembered that incident well.
After all, Lance was the reigning Champion of the Indigo Elite Four. Anyone who dared to challenge him would naturally make headlines.
"I remember that guy lost miserably…" Marnie said softly.
She'd seen the video later—it had been brutal. The challenger had been crushed without mercy by Lance, utterly defeated.
"Say what you will about his personality, but Lance's strength truly is exceptional," Giovanni said with a faint smile.
If Lance could be beaten by just any random trainer, Team Rocket wouldn't have to stay hidden right now.
Giovanni might dislike the Dragon Master, but even he had to admit—the man's power was formidable.
"Kukui's actually quite strong—solidly mid-tier among Champion-level trainers. It's just that Lance was far too overwhelming," Lucas said, shaking his head.
Kukui—the same Professor from the Sun & Moon, teacher at the Pokémon School, and Ash's final opponent in the Alola arc.
In the anime, his power didn't seem particularly impressive—mainly because many characters were heavily toned down compared to their in-game counterparts.
Take the Alola Elite Four, for example—in the anime, most of them barely did anything.
And Kukui, too—while the show portrayed him as a kind professor, in the games, he was a true Champion-level opponent.
After defeating the Alola Elite Four in the games, the player faces Kukui himself waiting at the League's entrance—serving as the final challenge.
In other words, Kukui was effectively the unofficial Champion of Alola.
And in the games, Alola initially had no Pokémon League. Kukui dedicated himself to building one, personally traveling to Kanto multiple times to petition for its establishment.
He even explained this dream to the player, mentioning how he had repeatedly applied to the League in the past—but every single attempt had failed.
The reason was simple: Alola's unique environment and the dangerous nature of Ultra Beasts made the League hesitant to approve it.
Still, Kukui's persistence earned him respect. During his conversations, he even mentioned once challenging a Dragon-type trainer from Indigo—only to suffer a crushing defeat.
He didn't name names, but really—who else could that be but Lance? It's not like you could expect Clair to go fight Kukui, right?
Sure, Indigo had legends like Red and Blue, but neither specialized in Dragon-types.
"Using Lance as a weapon for the League's rejection must've left him in a foul mood. No wonder he didn't hold back in that battle," Lucas recalled.
Kukui had come to Kanto seeking League approval, but the League had grown tired of his requests.
So, this time, they sent out Lance —their ultimate trump card—to "test" Kukui.
In other words, it was the League's polite way of saying, Give up.
After all, Lance was Indigo's Champion and publicly recognized as one of the strongest trainers in the world. Having Kukui challenge him was clearly meant to discourage him.
And unsurprisingly, the match ended with Kukui's utter defeat.
"Well, that's none of our business anyway. Boss, the one looking for me—don't tell me it's Kukui?" Lucas turned toward Giovanni with mild curiosity.
Although he sympathized with Kukui's devotion to Alola, that man's problems weren't his.
"No. It's someone from the Aether Foundation," Giovanni said, shaking his head.
"The Aether Foundation?" Lucas blinked, clearly intrigued. Of course, he knew who they were.
Alola didn't have an official League. Though League personnel like Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny had stations there, the real power belonged to the Aether Foundation—the so-called "Aether Paradise."
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the Foundation had Alola completely under its thumb.
The supposed villainous group, Team Skull, wasn't even a true criminal organization—just a bunch of delinquents and thugs with no real threat.
They weren't evil—just pathetic.
The real puppet master behind Alola's darkness was the Aether Foundation itself.
In the anime, Aether was portrayed in a much more positive light—and its president, Lusamine, was even redeemed into a sympathetic mother figure.
But in the games and manga, Lusamine was the true dark heart of the story—an obsessive, controlling, and deeply disturbed collector.
Team Skull, in reality, was nothing more than Lusamine's loyal guard dog.
Privately, Lusamine was twisted and deranged. In her secret laboratory lay countless frozen Pokémon specimens—her personal "collection."
That alone was enough to show how sick her mind truly was.
"What could the Aether Foundation possibly want with me?" Lucas asked, visibly puzzled.
He was famous, sure—but not exactly in a good way.
Every major League knew of his existence, but mostly as a powerful executive of Team Rocket—hardly a flattering reputation.
So, it wasn't strange that Aether knew of him too—after all, their influence reached far and wide across Alola.
But why seek him out? Lusamine should be too obsessed with Ultra Wormholes and Ultra Beasts to care about anything else.
"That, I don't know," Giovanni said, shaking his head. "But their representative should be arriving in Kanto soon. Whether you meet them or not is up to you."
Although Aether was influential, Giovanni didn't think much of them.
Alola was far too distant, and Team Rocket had neither the time nor the manpower to expand there right now.
Besides, the Aether Foundation wasn't seeking him—it was seeking Lucas.
"Fine. When they arrive, let me know. I'll meet with them," Lucas said after a moment of thought.
He was curious about their purpose. And if the Aether Foundation could assist him in accessing the Ultra Space, that would be worth exploring.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be heading out, Boss."
Giovanni nodded, eyes still fixed on the data before him. Lucas was the last person he needed to worry about.
If anything, he should be worrying for whoever had to face Lucas next.
--------------------------------
Alamos Town, Sinnoh.
After a long afternoon flight, Lucas arrived in Sinnoh with Green and Marnie, then immediately rode Reshiram straight to Alamos Town.
At this point, the White Dragon had become his official flying mount—majestic, graceful, and powerful.
Truly the perfect steed for a Dragon Master.
"They're here."
Cynthia looked to the horizon, spotting the elegant white dragon soaring swiftly toward them.
"Rrrrroooarrr!"
Reshiram's melodic dragon cry echoed through the valley as it descended in a swirl of wind.
"Miss Sheena—it's been quite some time. And Miss Cynthia, you're here as well," Lucas greeted warmly as he dismounted.
"As the Champion of Sinnoh, it's only natural that I keep an eye on such matters," Cynthia replied politely, her stunning features softened by a composed smile.
Though her feelings toward Lucas were complicated, this was neither the time nor the place—he had come to help, and she would treat him accordingly.
"It really has been a while, Mr. Lucas. You're far stronger now than you were back then," Sheena said with genuine awe.
Her first encounter with him hadn't exactly been pleasant—she still remembered being pressured into surrendering the Jewel of Life under his sharp tongue.
And that fiasco where he accidentally shattered it later... truly unforgettable.
But the outcome had been good in the end—and that was what mattered most.
"Haha~ Miss Sheena, not only have you grown more beautiful, but your words are sweeter than ever," Lucas teased good-naturedly, his tone calm and gentle.
"I'm just being honest," Sheena said softly, her eyes flickering between him and Reshiram.
This man… had changed.
Not just in strength—his whole demeanor was different.
He was still handsome, but his once sharp and mocking attitude had mellowed.
Back then, Lucas had been arrogant and cutting—his words like blades that left others bleeding with humiliation.
She and Cyrus, both, had been on the receiving end of that sharp tongue.
But now, his presence was calm—his voice steady, his air more composed.
"You seem to have been through a lot," Sheena said curiously.
"Just striving to become a better version of myself," Lucas replied with a faint smile. "Now then, could you explain the situation to me?"
He knew what she was getting at, but chose not to dwell on it. Compared to before, Lucas had indeed matured—his tone less biting, his heart less cold.
And he didn't dislike this change. After all, he wasn't alone anymore. His goals had grown beyond mere self-interest.
"As you can see, this town is currently enveloped by Palkia's influence," Cynthia said, turning her gaze toward Alamos Town.
"Indeed… it's Palkia," Lucas murmured, narrowing his eyes as he looked up at the top of the Space-Time Tower, where the deity of space slumbered.
He faintly recalled the movie The Rise of Darkrai.
If memory served, a powerful Darkrai had once protected this very town. It was Darkrai who first sensed Palkia's presence and attacked, awakening the Space deity—an act that in turn drew Dialga's attention.
"Yes, but right now, we have no idea which Pokémon injured Palkia—or where it might be," Sheena added anxiously.
Whoever had the power to wound a god like Palkia was a terrifying entity indeed.
"There's no need to guess," Lucas said casually. "The only Pokémon capable of severely injuring Palkia in its own dimension is Dialga."
Even without knowing the full story, he could deduce that much.
After all, Palkia existed within spatial dimensions. Other than Arceus—who was still slumbering—only Dialga could cross those boundaries to confront it directly.
Even Giratina, the master of the Reverse World, couldn't freely enter the domain of the space-time gods.
(End of Chapter)