Pokemon: I Transmigrated Twice

On the way to Mahogany Town earlier, Stephen had been considering the situation.

Using only Pryce's secret as a masked man as leverage didn't seem threatening enough. After all, Pryce had two cards in his hand: Zorua and Stephen's own identity. With only one card to play, Stephen was clearly at a disadvantage.

"Fine then. Since you've captured my partner, I'll capture yours. That should even be the playing field, right?"

Besides, even if Stephen exposed Pryce's true identity, it didn't seem like it would pose much of a threat to him. Pryce could simply keep chasing Celebi while dodging the League's pursuit. After all, it didn't feel like the League had anyone capable of stopping him.

Peak Lance + Peak Leon might have stood a chance. But as things stand now? Not happening.

Even if Pryce's identity were revealed, the worst that would happen was a slight reduction in his operational efficiency. The League might not even issue a warrant for him.

Wasn't it clear from the original story? After all the havoc Pryce caused, the League still shamelessly let him become the Mahogany Gym Leader. Why? Because his strength was undeniable, and the League didn't want to push him to the other side.

It just goes to show—power truly does grant privilege.

Looking at the Big Three (Pryce, Giovanni, and Lance), both Pryce and Lance committed serious crimes. Yet, in the end, the League turned a blind eye and let them return as a Gym Leader and Champion, respectively.

Giovanni, though, was truly hunted by the League relentlessly. That was because the misdeeds of Giovanni and his Team Rocket were too widespread. Even if the League wanted to recruit Giovanni and clean up his image, it wasn't feasible.

After thinking it over, Stephen concluded that the most effective way to threaten Pyce was through La Glace, the Lapras.

After all, Pryce's ultimate goal behind all his actions was to reunite it with its deceased parents, wasn't it?

...

Boom!

Across the way, a frigid beam blasted through the ruins of the collapsed Mahogany Gym.

Like an Ice Age summoned by Aokiji, the cold beam carved a path across the ground.

Pryce emerged slowly from the icy mist, sitting in a wheelchair and cradling a small Swinub that suspiciously resembled a Kyurem in disguise.

He could no longer maintain the facade of a kindly old grandfather. His expression had shifted from Hiruzen Sarutobi to Danzo Shimura, and he glared at Stephen with gritted teeth:

"Give La Glace back to me!"

"That's not going to happen."

Stephen tossed the Poké Ball containing Lapras to Bewear.

The large bear grasped the shrunken Poké Ball in its massive paws, its grip so tight it seemed it could crush both the ball and the Lapras inside at any moment.

Pryce's face turned ashen, resembling that of a Namekian, as he suppressed his anger and spoke in a low voice:

"You're here for Zorua, aren't you? She's locked in the gym's basement. Let me take you there."

As a master-tier trainer, Pryce had a good guess as to what trick Stephen had used. But those details didn't matter. The priority was retrieving La Glace.

"You think I'm an idiot, old man?"

Stephen smirked. "Who in their right mind would walk alone into enemy territory?"

Pryce's right hand gripped the handle of his wheelchair, the veins on his bony hand bulging. "Then what do you want?"

"Three days from now, at Viridian Gym in Kanto. We'll make the trade there."

Stephen raised his right hand, holding up three fingers.

Karen and Will exchanged glances, realizing the reasoning behind Stephen's choice of location.

"Even if the entirety of Team Rocket showed up, I wouldn't bat an eye," Pryce scoffed.

He had already guessed Stephen's plan. Choosing Viridian Gym, Giovanni's territory, as the meeting place meant Stephen intended to use Team Rocket's forces to ambush him.

Swinub, Delibird, Ho-Oh. With these three legendary Pokémon in his possession, Pryce felt that even the entire Indigo League would pose a challenge—but not Team Rocket.

"Viridian Gym is in the heart of Viridian City. If you want to fight there, old man, you'd better consider the consequences," Stephen reminded him.

Viridian City was one of the most prominent cities in the Kanto region, and the gym was located right in the city center. Any disturbance there would draw Officer Jenny and her police force in less than five minutes.

Stephen had no intention of fighting Pryce head-on. He simply wanted Pryce to think twice before acting.

Using La Glace as leverage, Pryce was undoubtedly furious. If he had Saiyan blood, he'd probably have transformed by now. Stephen couldn't guarantee that after the Pokémon exchange, Pryce wouldn't retaliate by having Swinub unleash a Blizzard on him.

To prevent such a scenario, Stephen felt it was necessary to set the trading location on his own turf.

"Overly cautious brat," Pryce muttered, shooting Stephen a cold glare.

"Not at all. When dealing with someone as powerful and mentally unstable as you, old man, it's only prudent to have a backup plan," Stephen replied with a grin.

"Hey! What's going on here?!"

At that moment, a girl's shout came from the direction of the town.

It was Clair!

Although Mahogany Gym was located on the outskirts of the town, the commotion had naturally drawn the attention of the townsfolk.

"Well then, old man, see you in three days."

After waving goodbye to Pryce, Stephen quickly took Karen and Will along a side path to leave.

Pryce said nothing, his face dark as a storm cloud.

A dignified master-tier trainer, outsmarted by a kid's schemes.

While the loss of La Glace infuriated him, Pryce wasn't too worried. He believed that with Stephen's intelligence, he wouldn't harm La Glace. Otherwise, he'd face Pryce's endless pursuit.

The real problem was that without Zorua and the threat of exposing Pryce's secret, he had no leverage to manipulate Stephen.

As Pryce lowered his head in thought, Clair and other townsfolk arrived.

Seeing the wreckage of Mahogany Gym, Clair was so shocked her eyes nearly popped out.

"W-What… Old man, what happened here?!"

Clair was completely dumbfounded. She'd only been gone an hour—how had the gym ended up like this?!

Pryce raised his head, activating his Oscar-winning actor mode. His demeanor reverted to that of Hiruzen Sarutobi, and with a pained expression, he pounded his chest and lamented:

"It was Shadow! Clair, after you left, Shadow attacked the gym. Sigh… I'm truly old now. I could only watch as they destroyed the gym like this."

Since Stephen was affiliated with Team Rocket and would be meeting them later, Pryce decided to pin the blame on the Johto-based criminal organization, Shadow.

"Damn Shadow! Attacking a League gym in broad daylight?!"

Clair stamped her foot in anger before reassuring Pryce, "Don't worry, old man. I'll notify Mr. Goodshow immediately and make sure they pay for this!"

Pryce nodded gratefully. "Thank you… Sigh… With the gym gone, I have nothing to do lately. Could you also ask Chairman Goodshow for a leave of absence on my behalf? I think I'll take some time to travel while the gym is being rebuilt."

...

...

...

"Stephen, after the deal is done, that old man Pryce won't come after us, will he?"

After leaving Mahogany Town, recalling the strength displayed by Pryce's swinub earlier, Will couldn't help but shiver.

"Look at you, such a coward."

Karen scoffed disdainfully.

"Aren't you scared?"

Will retorted.

This time, Karen surprisingly didn't snap back.

Indeed, Pryce's strength was terrifying.

Right now, the three of them still had La Glace, so Pryce wouldn't dare act rashly. But after they returned it in three days?

"We probably don't need to worry that much."

Stephen, who was walking at the front, suddenly spoke up.

Hearing this, the other two turned to look at him in unison.

Stephen glanced sideways at them. "Think about it. Back in the Ilex Forest, why was he trying to capture Joker?"

Will shrugged. "How would I know? I'm not a worm living in that guy's stomach."

After a moment of thought, Karen speculated, "Maybe he has some problem that requires Joker's help. It probably isn't something that sheer force alone can solve. After all, with his strength, anything that can be resolved with brute force wouldn't be an issue for him... So, in that case... Hmm!?"

Karen suddenly grasped the key point.

"Exactly. What he wants is my intellect and skills. It's similar to Uncle Giovanni's situation."

Back then, Giovanni had invested in Stephen because he valued his intellect. Now, Pryce seemed to have the same idea.

However, compared to Giovanni's gentle approach of persuading Stephen with reason and emotion, Pryce's methods were much more heavy-handed.

Persuasion? Forget it. That guy just outright kidnapped him!

But regardless, as long as Pryce hadn't solved his problem yet, he wouldn't easily make a move against Stephen. After all, he still needed Stephen's help.

"Stephen, are you going to help that Pryce? I don't like him. He's such a schemer..."

Will muttered under his breath.

Stephen wasn't someone who enjoyed being threatened either.

Pryce's forceful recruitment tactics left a bad taste in his mouth.

But if he refused, it was likely he'd have to deal with Pryce's relentless harassment.

This left Stephen irritated, as he hadn't yet figured out a foolproof way to deal with Pryce.

"One step at a time. Let's head back to Cianwood City first."

Stephen finally decided.

He planned to destroy all the experimental materials left in Cianwood City, leaving no evidence behind.

Then, they would head to Viridian City to carry out the deal with Pryce.

After that, they could decide whether to return to Alola or go somewhere else.

...

That night, the three of them returned to Cianwood City from Mahogany Town.

As they were about to head back to their seaside cabin, Will suddenly pointed to the right. "Hey, what's going on over there?"

Stephen and Karen turned to look.

They saw that the western road leading out of Cianwood City had been blocked off by barricades.

A traffic officer was standing at the entrance, waving a signal light and shouting, "The western exit is temporarily closed. Please take the eastern road to leave the city."

"The road's closed? What's going on?"

Will asked curiously.

Karen thought for a moment before replying, "Cianwood City is already the westernmost city in the Johto region. Beyond this point... there's only the Safari Zone."

The Safari Zone was home to a large number of wild Pokémon but was managed and operated by humans.

Trainers could pay a fee to receive a limited number of Safari Balls from the operators and were allowed to capture Pokémon in the area within a set time limit.

However, battles were often prohibited in the Safari Zone, and trainers could only use bait or other gentle methods to capture Pokémon.

"Could it be that they found some rare Pokémon?!"

Will rubbed his hands together excitedly.

There were often rumors of rare Pokémon being discovered in Safari Zones across different regions.

For example, the Safari Zone in Kanto was once rumored to have Dratini.

Now that the League had blocked the road leading to the Safari Zone, could it mean they had found something even rarer than Dratini?

Could they be preventing trainers from capturing it by sealing off the road?

"Could it be a Tyranitar?"

Will guessed.

"Probably not."

Stephen shook his head, though he also had no idea why the League had closed the road.

If it was because of a rare Pokémon and they were blocking the road to prevent trainers from catching it, doing all this for a Pokémon like Tyranitar seemed like overkill.

While pseudo-legendary Pokémon like Tyranitar were rare, they weren't valuable enough for the League to go to such lengths.

"I love digging into secrets like this."

Will excitedly pulled out his combat suit wristband.

"I'm going to check it out. What about you two? Coming along?"

Karen was just about to say she wasn't interested and would rather head back with Stephen, but Stephen spoke first:

"Karen, you should go too. If it is a rare Pokémon, it'd be perfect for you to catch it."

They had gone to Unova before to help Karen capture a Zorua to bolster her team.

But plans couldn't keep up with changes, and Zorua ended up being captured by Stephen instead.

As a result, Karen's main team still only had three members.

If the League had indeed closed the road because of a rare Pokémon, it'd be best for Karen to catch it.

What if it was a legendary Pokémon?

Although Johto didn't seem to have any Dark-type legendaries, it wasn't impossible that one from another region had wandered over.

After all, just like how Celebi was considered Johto's legendary Pokémon but liked to roam, legendary Pokémon often didn't stay in one place.

"Alright!"

Karen nodded in agreement.

"All set? Then let's..."

Will was about to remind Karen to get moving, but she interrupted him halfway through:

"Stephen, let's go. Will, I'll leave the task of destroying the materials to you."

"Huh?"

Will was momentarily stunned.

"Huh, what? Even though you're not the sharpest tool in the shed, you can handle something this simple, right?"

Karen said impatiently.

With that, she put on her wristband and activated her stealth mode, her voice the only thing left for the two to hear:

"Stephen, let's go."

Stephen patted Will on the shoulder. "I'll leave it to you."

Watching the two vanish one after another, Will muttered under his breath, "Damn couple..."

Then, he reluctantly turned around and headed back to their old base.

...

...

...

Relying on the capabilities of their stealth suits, Stephen and Karen easily avoided the traffic police's checkpoint at the city gates.

However, the farther they traveled, the more they realized something unusual was happening.

There were too many people.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe the situation as having checkpoints every three steps and sentries every five steps.

What exactly had happened to warrant such an overwhelming show of force from the League?

"Stephen, to the right..."

Suddenly, while still in stealth mode, Karen tugged on Stephen's sleeve, signaling him to look to the right.

Stephen turned his gaze in that direction.

He saw a man, probably in his late twenties but certainly no older than thirty, standing with his arms crossed and a serious expression as he patrolled the area. The man spoke to the other security guards around him:

"Make sure no one leaves the city, understood?"

A security guard responded, "Don't worry, Mr. Norman. Even a fly won't get through!"

The man, addressed as Norman, nodded and then pointed toward the sky.

Above them, numerous security guards were patrolling the night sky on flying Pokémon such as Pidgeot and Crobat.

Norman shouted, "Aerial units, stay alert! If you see any trainers approaching on flying Pokémon, stop them immediately!"

"Understood!"

The aerial patrol members responded in unison.

"I just remembered who that is," Karen whispered.

"Norman, the champion of the previous Silver Conference. But even though he's from Johto, rumor has it that he was recruited by the Hoenn League to become a Gym Leader there. Why is he back here now?"

"It seems his role in this operation is security... Be careful. Let's keep moving."

The two quietly tiptoed past Norman, careful not to attract any attention.

Fortunately, they succeeded.

But just as they got past Norman, they immediately encountered something even more astonishing—

A large group of armed trainers wearing uniforms emblazoned with the Devon Corporation logo had surrounded a tall tower on Route 47.

"This is... the Embedded Tower," Karen said, frowning.

"No one knows what this tower is for. It's said to have existed for a very long time, but since nothing special was ever discovered about it, it was eventually abandoned..."

"Operation Rayquaza Capture, begin!"

Before Karen could finish her sentence, a commanding voice from the entrance of the Embedded Tower rang out.

"Yes, Mr. Stone!"

Nearly a hundred elite trainers surrounding the Embedded Tower responded in unison.

Hearing the name Mr. Stone, Karen's face instantly changed.

Could it be that Joseph Stone, the wealthiest man in the Hoenn region and the president of the Devon Corporation?!

Before Karen could get closer to see, the fully armed League trainers had already taken action.

The first row of trainers threw their Poké Balls, summoning Slowbro, Swampert, Politoed, and other Water-type Pokémon.

"Surf!"

Dozens of Water-type Pokémon unleashed an enormous tidal wave, drowning the Embedded Tower in a combined Super Surf attack.

"Roar—!"

A furious dragon's roar echoed through the air.

A green, enraged dragon burst out from one side of the Embedded Tower, roaring furiously at the humans below while withstanding the tidal wave.

Rayquaza!!!

At this moment, Karen finally understood why the League had gone to such lengths to seal off the area and prohibit outsiders.

The legendary Rayquaza indeed warranted such a massive operation!

"Second Unit!"

Mr. Stone, who was commanding the operation, shouted.

Dozens more trainers stepped forward, releasing Raichu, Ampharos, Manectric, and other Electric-type Pokémon.

"Thunder Wave!"

 "Thunderbolt!"

 "Discharge!"

A barrage of Electric-type moves rained down.

The moisture still clinging to Rayquaza's body conducted the electricity, instantly paralyzing the legendary Pokémon.

"I see... First, they doused Rayquaza with water to create a conductive layer. Then, they used electricity to paralyze it. A clever strategy," Stephen analyzed quietly from the sidelines.

"Roar!!!"

Rayquaza, its body crackling with electricity and paralyzed, roared in fury. A destructive surge of dragon energy erupted from its body as it unleashed a violet-blue Dragon Pulse.

The attack struck down over a dozen Water- and Electric-type Pokémon standing at the forefront, rendering them unable to battle.

Mr. Stone, momentarily shaken by Rayquaza's overwhelming power, felt a bead of cold sweat trickle down his forehead. However, he quickly regained his composure and shouted:

"Third Unit, move out!"

The final group of trainers stepped forward, releasing Weavile, Mamoswine, Froslass, and other Ice-type Pokémon.

"Ice Beam!"

 "Blizzard!"

 "Icy Wind!"

A relentless barrage of Ice-type moves assaulted Rayquaza, engulfing it in a chilling wave. In an instant, the ground and surrounding trees were coated in frost.

Then, from the hole Rayquaza had burst through in the Embedded Tower, a figure appeared.