Chapter 146. Meeting, Conversation
"Boss, run!"
At the instant they saw the sludge truck, the bodyguards lunged forward in a reflex, shielding Giovanni.
Fortunately, the sludge truck only coasted a few meters before stopping, and the big tank on its back didn't flash with white light.
Click—
Natsume jumped down from the cab.
"I think your gate could be widened a bit."
He glanced back at the gate, which was only about ten meters wide, and offered the suggestion in earnest.
Giovanni's eye twitched.
"Come in."
With that, he turned and went upstairs.
It was a small five-story villa, with a huge balcony on the second floor.
On the balcony sat a small round table.
Attendants rolled out coolers on either side, stocked with all kinds of drinks.
A platter of sliced watermelon was set down, and it was immediately looted clean by a yellow blur.
"Diglett dig? Diglett! Diglett—"
The little Diglett stared, bewildered, at the empty platter and at center-parted licking its paw by the plate, not knowing what had happened.
"Awooo—"
A massive Dragonite lumbered toward the coolers, and the attendants fled in panic.
"Oooh!"
The big Dragonite plopped its rear into a cooler, looking utterly blissful.
It shifted to press more ice against its body, but there was a crackle beneath as countless bottles burst, staining the clear crushed ice all sorts of colors.
"Huh?"
Puffing smoke, Gengar curiously picked up a bottle that had rolled to its side.
Glug-glug—
Gengar tipped the bottle back and drained it.
"Eh?"
The alcohol and the spicy sludge fumes had seemingly produced a curious reaction, and Gengar's sharp red eyes went perfectly round.
"Hahh~"
As if discovering a new world, Gengar strolled to another cooler, puffing and glugging as it went.
Behind them, Natsume quietly recorded video.
Good—now he could report back to Granny Citrus—as taught by Giovanni.
"Diglett!"
On the small round table, the little Diglett finally noticed what center-parted had done and angrily started brawling with it.
Only, center-parted could flop over and play dead at any time, making the other's attacks completely useless.
When Giovanni came to the balcony after changing, he was greeted by his treasured stock of drinks shattered all over the floor, two Pokémon fighting with fruit, and a Gengar at the coolers puffing away and guzzling.
A few attendants retreated awkwardly to the doorway, unsure how to handle the scene.
"Why did you let your Pokémon out?" Giovanni finally lost his patience.
"We're poor, so I'm letting the kids see the world," Natsume waved it off.
"You truly have no manners."
A vein throbbed on Giovanni's forehead as he sat opposite Natsume.
"Thanks for the compliment?" Natsume thought for a moment and thanked him, sincerely.
Every time Professor Oak took him to an academic exchange, they came back with Oak cursing him out straight away.
Natsume's gaze flicked to the two rings on Giovanni's fingers.
One was Team Rocket's, and the other an emerald ring shaped like a green pine.
Natsume extended his telekinesis toward them, only to be repelled by a strange force.
It was very similar to the force in the underground temple that blocked his telepathic probing.
Giovanni said nothing.
He could sense that Natsume seemed to be probing him.
It was easy enough for Giovanni to learn that the other party possessed telekinesis.
But Natsume would not be able to find anything.
[Ding! A complete Divinity detected nearby!]
The system's voice suddenly chimed.
At the same time, a small red dot appeared at Giovanni's waist.
A complete Divinity even comes with a notification?
Natsume was a little stunned.
But it hadn't done that when he ran into Mewtwo.
Does Mewtwo really only have half?
In that Divinity-beast catalog, Mew and Mewtwo were each only half-lit, and Natsume couldn't even see the entry for the Gene Divinity.
And now, on Giovanni, it had detected a complete Divinity!
Natsume's curiosity surged, and he couldn't stop himself from probing with telekinesis.
But all he saw were a few Poké Balls, and the red dot landed on the last Poké Ball.
Probing further—
Aside from learning what color underwear Giovanni was wearing, Natsume knew nothing else.
The Poké Ball was covered by a pale cyan force, and his telekinesis couldn't advance an inch.
"I said, you have no manners."
Giovanni's cold voice sounded as an attendant handed him a drink from behind.
"Say it—what do you want in exchange for the Divinity research data?"
Seeing he couldn't get anything useful, Natsume cut to the chase.
He was willing to take the risk and meet Giovanni in private because the temptation here was too great.
Team Rocket had a lot of research analyses on Divinity, as well as certain patterns about Divinity.
For Natsume, even if it was the dragon's den, he had to break in and take a look.
"Has the authority of battle been born upon you?" Giovanni did not answer, but questioned in return.
"What are you talking about?" Natsume couldn't quite follow.
Giovanni stared into his eyes for a long time before sighing.
"Then I'll give you a quick primer first, to make communication less troublesome."
As he spoke, he clapped his hands.
Behind him, two attendants pushed over something like a big blackboard.
Looking closely, it was a screen.
The screen lit up, showing a mural on a rock wall.
"Know what this is?" Giovanni pointed at the screen.
"I do."
"A Silph Co. monitor."
"Overpriced."
"At the same price range it's worse than the Devon brand."
"Only fools with money would buy this."
Natsume offered a serious review.
"…"
"This was excavated in the Unova region, a stone slab that records an ancient war."
Giovanni stood, his voice cold.
From this point on, he would not respond to anything Natsume said except the explanation.
As Giovanni spoke, the mural on the screen gradually zoomed out—from one corner of the battlefield to a macroscopic scene.
On the mural, one could vaguely make out that most of the Pokémon depicted were Ground- and Steel-types like Onix, Steelix, and Aggron.
Natsume nodded slightly.
In the League's records, there was considerable research on ancient Pokémon wars.
Books Natsume had borrowed also recorded that people in the war era favored using Ground- and Steel-type Pokémon.
"At the end of the war era, there were two princes in a certain kingdom."
Giovanni's voice was unhurried as he continued.
The more Natsume listened, the more twisted his expression became.
Why did this story sound so much like the Aura Guardian?
Well, Unova did have a similar legend.
It was just that Giovanni seemed convinced this legend was real.
Natsume knew the connection because he'd watched the movie before he crossed over.
But Giovanni hadn't.
Right now, he was very curious how Giovanni had determined that this legend was authentic.
"…With the help of Reshiram and Zekrom, the war era came to a complete end."
With that, Giovanni looked at Natsume.
"Do you have anything to say?"
Natsume paused.
The story Giovanni told was actually a bit different from the movie he remembered.
"We should get along with Pokémon and must not enslave them for war."
Natsume served up the politically correct answer.
Giovanni: "…"
"When ideals collide with reality, war is born," Giovanni looked at Natsume and went on.
"Yet at the end of the war era, Reshiram, representing ideals, and Zekrom, representing reality, appeared."
"Why do you think that is?"
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