For example, the leader of the organization herself, who under the slogan of loving Pokémon actually wished to incorporate all Pokémon into her collection, and even used cryogenic technology on living beings in order to preserve the Pokémon she liked most inside her private mansion.
Not even the way she loved her own children truly respected their feelings, and she often repeated the phrase: "Children only achieve happiness if they obey their parents."
And most importantly, in the Alola region, the headquarters of the Aether Foundation was an artificial island. On the surface, they spoke of a supposed paradise for Pokémon, which they called Aether Paradise, but in reality, within that Aether Paradise were hidden secret laboratories conducting research on living beings.
They carried out genetic research on Pokémon just like Team Rocket, and in some ways even more extremely. After all, Team Rocket only researched a few specific species that interested them, while the Aether Foundation researched all Pokémon.
This Aether Foundation occupied an extremely important position within the Alola region.
Although the current Alola League had already detected it, it still had not found the right opportunity to establish itself there, because the local forces led by the Aether Foundation showed an especially strong rejection toward the League.
Back then, Cain had even fought with Alexandra, the representative of the Aether Foundation within the Sacred Church, and from her he learned about the alliance between the Sacred Church and the Aether Foundation.
Moreover, at that time, Alexandra, in the name of the Aether Foundation itself, had attempted to recruit Cain, valuing both his potential and his Kommo-o.
Only, because Cain was about to participate in the expedition to the Space-Time Continent at that time, the matter had been postponed.
And that postponement, for him, ended up becoming more than a year. Only today, upon seeing the clothing of those people again, did he finally remember this important organization, the Aether Foundation.
They had appeared here!
For what purpose?!
As those people continued to emerge one after another, Cain recognized among them an old acquaintance, Alexandra.
And the last person to appear had long blonde hair that flowed like a cloak down her back. She wore white clothing similar to the others, although on her chest there was a special ornament resembling a crystal, and over the white outer garment she wore a thin layer of yellow gauze. Another striking detail was that the front of her pants was white, while the back was completely black.
A very distinctive outfit. Just by looking at it, one could tell that this person's identity within the Aether Foundation was special.
And although her appearance was that of a girl of seventeen or eighteen years old, Cain knew that in reality she was already over thirty, and not much younger than Giovanni or Kael.
Lusamine!
The current president of the Aether Foundation and the true authority within it!
A woman obsessed with exploring a place called Ultra Space, eager to turn creatures known as Ultra Beasts into part of her collection, and to achieve that goal, the entire Aether Foundation existed.
However, within the entire League, there were probably not even twenty people who knew of the existence of the Aether Foundation, and even fewer who possessed detailed information about it.
Fortunately, several of the people present here did know of this organization.
Giovanni narrowed his eyes.
"Aether Foundation... since when have you gotten involved with them as well?"
As the leader of Team Rocket, although Team Rocket had withdrawn and did not participate in the struggle over the League's new regions, he still knew the information he needed to know.
"What Pokémon is that?"
As soon as she appeared, Lusamine did not hurry to give any explanation. The first thing she saw was the armored Mewtwo floating beside Giovanni, a Pokémon she had never seen nor heard of before.
For someone who dreamed of incorporating all Pokémon into her collection, how could she not be excited upon seeing an unknown creature?
"President, that is a Pokémon created by Team Rocket through genetic research, using genes from the Mythical Pokémon Mew. It has the potential to become a first-tier legendary Pokémon!"
"In the entire Pokémon world, there exists only this one! If you let this chance pass, there will never be another!" Kael said with a smile, addressing Lusamine.
The Sacred Church and the Aether Foundation maintained a cooperative relationship, although due to the difference in strength, the Sacred Church held the initiative.
But Kael understood quite well what kind of person his partner, Lusamine, was.
And just as he expected, upon hearing Mewtwo's origin and its uniqueness, Lusamine's eyes lit up, and the way she looked at Mewtwo became filled with burning desire.
However, she was not a fool. Upon seeing Giovanni standing beside Mewtwo, and sensing the aura emanating from Mewtwo, she immediately understood that this was not something she could confront on her own.
Even Kael could not easily deal with Giovanni, so she did not for a moment believe that she could do so herself.
The passion in her gaze was gradually replaced by reason, and she turned her eyes toward Kael.
"Lord Bishop, the fact that you summoned us now seems quite different from what was originally promised. Don't you think you should give me an explanation?"
Giovanni was not the only one present. Cain and Magnus were also below, and the members of the League, thanks to Magnus's intervention, were beginning to recover their footing.
From the looks of it, the Sacred Church had not managed to completely take control of Mt. Silver, so the appearance of the Aether Foundation here meant that they would have to enter into open war against the League.
And that was not what the Aether Foundation wanted.
Although the Aether Foundation did not wish for the League to establish itself in Alola, that did not mean it wanted to confront the League directly.
The reason they had chosen to cooperate with the Sacred Church in the first place was, on one hand, because the Sacred Church possessed many special spatial techniques capable of helping the Aether Foundation better explore Ultra Space. For that reason, they had infiltrated part of their personnel into the Sacred Church in order to learn those spatial methods.
And on the other hand, because the enemy of the Sacred Church was the League. If they could weaken the League's strength, then the League's arrival in Alola would be delayed even further, giving the Aether Foundation more room to maneuver.
That was why both sides had ended up cooperating.
(End of chapter)