Most of Team Aqua's members had backgrounds as sailors or pirates. Even their faces looked different from those soft-handed land dwellers.
The Team Magma members looked nervous. Among the three executives, Courtney remained calm, while Tabitha swallowed nervously and Blaise deliberately made himself smaller.
Before joining Team Magma, Courtney had been a researcher for the Pokémon League, and her position in Team Magma was also closer to that of a scientist. There was almost no chance she would be assigned such a dangerous mission.
Blaise had just made a great contribution, so all he needed to do was keep a low profile.
Tabitha, on the other hand, felt that he was simply unlucky. With his fair and chubby appearance, he really was not suited to going undercover.
"I didn't ask you to go undercover." Maxie paced back and forth without hurry, thinking as he spoke. "Isn't Team Aqua's base in Lilycove City? We can start with the Pokémon League..."
"The time for the gods to awaken is not far away. No matter what it takes, we have to make sure Team Aqua completely loses its ability to compete with us!"
"Lilycove City is also by the sea, isn't it? Find Water-type Pokémon, preferably ones that can use Surf. Let Lilycove City see what kind of rising tide Team Aqua is hoping for."
"You don't need me to tell you what to do after that, right?"
After hearing this, Tabitha hurriedly asked, "Boss, what if the League doesn't do anything to Team Aqua because of this?"
"Make the situation bigger! Let it affect more people! It doesn't matter whether they actually die by drowning in seawater or not. Once things reach that point, it won't be something the League can control anymore. Will the truth even matter then?"
Maxie waved his hand impatiently. "Tabitha, do you have any other questions?"
Tabitha immediately lowered his head. "No, Boss!"
"Good. You're the one, Tabitha. Go carry out the mission. If you run into any real problems, ask Courtney for help."
After giving his orders, Maxie led the others up the mountain.
Perhaps the area was getting a little hot. Tabitha wiped the sweat from his face, took some of his men with him, released his Pokémon and left.
* * *
It was already getting late.
At the southernmost edge of the Hoenn region, the small Littleroot Town was surrounded by forests and remained quiet at all times.
This was Hoenn's starting town, untouched by any particular color and surrounded by fresh, natural scenery. When the Devon Corporation's car drove into the town, a dim golden sunset had already covered Hoenn, including this little-known rural town.
Shiro looked through the window, which was covered with privacy film, but all he could see outside was darkness. Most of what lay before him was layers of dense forest. The only dirt road was rough and uneven, making the car shake badly as it moved along.
Private villas appeared beside the road from time to time. Each one had been built after a section of the forest was cut down. When Birch Research Institute had first been established, many businessmen had fought over these plots of land. Now, however, they had fallen into decline and were being sold at low prices.
It was only after the car entered an open area that the houses became slightly more crowded. From a distance, the trees around them gradually changed into orchards planted by people.
Birch Research Institute stood among the houses. It looked no different from the other buildings, just an ordinary three-story villa. There was not even a breeding garden attached to it.
When Shiro got out of the car, he was still a little surprised. "Is this really Professor Birch's research lab?"
Cairo nodded with complete certainty, a faint bitter smile on his face. "When the lab was being built, Professor Birch refused all scientific research donations and even removed the breeding garden project. His meaning was probably that he was already a professor who studied Pokémon environments, so of course he had to conduct his research in a natural environment. He didn't need something like a breeding garden in the first place."
Shiro was stunned. He hadn't expected Birch to be such a pure Pokémon scholar. He had even refused research donations, not to mention a breeding garden.
However, after thinking about what he had learned before, he quickly understood.
Birch had barely paid any attention to the matter of giving Pokémon to new trainers in Hoenn. Without a breeding garden, he naturally could not provide Pokémon. Bringing Pokémon over from breeding gardens elsewhere in Hoenn would also be too much trouble.
If new trainers were going to receive their Pokémon outside anyway, why take a detour all the way to Littleroot Town?
Birch naturally had no desire to force others to follow unnecessary formalities just to emphasize his own authority. He simply left those matters to others and kept his hands off them.
Everyone got out of the car one after another, but Sapphire stayed inside and seemed somewhat unwilling to come out.
Shiro and Cairo didn't pay much attention to such a small matter. It was probably just a child's nature. Once Birch came out, he would definitely take the little girl back with him.
After being away from home for so long, it was understandable that she felt a little distant.
Knock, knock, knock.
Shiro raised his hand and knocked three times on the door.
Before coming here, he had already sent Birch a message. As someone who was passionate about academic research, Birch had replied almost immediately. He couldn't wait to discuss academic matters with the genius researcher he had been thinking about and had said that he would wait at home and wouldn't be going out today.
Shiro waited for a while, then knocked three more times. Only then did he hear footsteps from inside.
Click.
The door carefully opened a crack first, as if the person inside was checking who was outside.
A moment later, it was quickly pulled open.
A face covered in a thick beard appeared behind the door. The man was somewhat overweight, though his face itself looked fairly normal. His short brown hair seemed not to have been washed for some time, with the ends tangled into clumps. There was also quite a bit of dirt on the lower half of his lab coat.
Birch looked somewhat exhausted, but the moment he saw Shiro, he immediately perked up.
"Professor Corviknight... Professor Shiro! You're finally here. Come in, come in."
Birch grabbed Shiro's outstretched right hand and enthusiastically pulled him inside before closing the door behind them.
Bang!
The redwood door shut tightly, causing the people outside to instinctively flinch.
Cairo's hand was still halfway raised. The driver had originally wanted to throw away the cigarette he had just started smoking, but he ended up putting it back into his mouth.
"This..." Cairo turned his head toward Sapphire inside the car.
The little girl seemed to have expected this. She sat on the sofa with her legs hugged against her chest and remained silent.
A few moments later, the door opened again.
Shiro's voice came faintly through the crack. "...There are other people here too, Professor Birch. It's already a little late. There's no need to rush the research. We can talk about it tomorrow."
"Research time is precious, Shiro!" Birch held a backpack in his arms and looked anxious. "Some Pokémon will change their habitats within a short period of time!"
Shiro helplessly raised his hand to stop him. He then stepped aside and opened the door wider, showing him the three people waiting outside.
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