For this battle, the Aether Foundation had also come prepared. Only, they had believed that they would not have to confront the League head-on, as they still did not wish to completely break relations with it. They had never imagined that Kael would summon them at this moment.
Kael shrugged and pointed at Giovanni and the Mewtwo beside him.
"I had no choice. All of this should have already been resolved by now, but an old friend appeared — Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket — and complicated matters further. So, if we still want to complete the objective now, we will need the help of the president and the Aether Foundation."
Kael appeared very calm, and he was completely certain that, even if the Aether Foundation was dissatisfied with the way he had acted, when facing a common enemy they would not turn against him.
Moreover, by openly summoning them in front of everyone, their relationship with the Sacred Church had already been exposed. Even if they did not wish to become enemies of the League, now they were forced to do so.
This was, quite literally, putting them between a rock and a hard place.
Lusamine frowned. She also understood the situation her side was in at this moment.
Although Kael had set a trap for them, just as he had anticipated, the more public the cooperative relationship between both sides became, the less they could attack the Sacred Church. Even, to a certain extent, they would have to protect it and allow it to remain on the front line absorbing the League's impact.
But what Lusamine could not understand was this: "Team Rocket? Isn't Team Rocket an enemy of the League? Then why is it here? Protecting the League?"
Before Kael could respond, Giovanni, who had been listening to the conversation, spoke first: "President Lusamine, there is nothing strange about my appearance here. After all, allowing an organization like the Sacred Church to gain the upper hand is not beneficial for the greater plan of my Team Rocket."
"On the other hand... if you are interested in the process behind Mewtwo's creation, or even if you are interested in Mew's genes, we can sit down and discuss it calmly. It is not as if cooperation is impossible."
"The technology of our Team Rocket, at least in that aspect, I am certain can perfectly complement that of your Aether Foundation."
Giovanni truly deserved his position as the leader of Team Rocket. His ability to read people was extremely sharp. Just from the look with which Lusamine had observed Mewtwo earlier, he had already roughly deduced what kind of person she was. Right in front of Kael, he was already attempting to recruit his ally.
And it had to be admitted that, after hearing Giovanni's proposal, Lusamine felt very tempted.
Cooperating with Team Rocket was, in fact, quite a good option. In reality, it was no worse than cooperating with the Sacred Church. If back then it had not been for the special spatial techniques possessed by the Sacred Church, the Aether Foundation would not even have needed to choose to ally with them.
But one must not forget that, after several years of contact, Lusamine's people had already researched the Sacred Church's spatial techniques quite thoroughly.
There were certainly still other special methods, but those were probably only known and mastered by Kael, the bishop of the Sacred Church himself.
Upon hearing Giovanni's words, Kael frowned. He did not want Giovanni to steal away his most important ally at this moment, so he said to Lusamine: "Do not forget our plan, President Lusamine."
After Kael reminded her, Lusamine once again thought about the objective of this operation, a matter related to the future research of the entire Ultra Space. Although she felt enormous interest in Mewtwo and in Mew's genes, for now she could only temporarily set it aside.
Seeing Lusamine's gaze become firm once again, Giovanni knew that this attempt to recruit her had failed. But he did not mind too much. In any case, he had not come today with the intention of destroying the Sacred Church, nor did he plan to confront the Aether Foundation directly. Now that he better understood Mewtwo's strength, an enormous and ambitious thought was spinning intensely within his mind.
"It does not matter, President Lusamine. We can wait until this matter is finished and then calmly sit down to discuss Pokémon genetic engineering and the idea of creating new Pokémon."
As he spoke, Giovanni took a special communicator from his pocket, wrapped it with his psychic power, and tossed it toward Lusamine.
Lusamine reflected for a moment and did not refuse it. She recognized that Giovanni's words were very tempting, so she ultimately kept the communicator.
Kael saw Giovanni attempting to seduce his ally right in front of him, but he did not say anything.
As long as he could complete today's objective, the Aether Foundation or anything else would become far less important to him.
He then looked at Giovanni and calmly said: "Giovanni, do you still wish to stop me?"
Now that he had the help of the Aether Foundation, he already possessed an absolute advantage in terms of strength. Even if Giovanni attempted to stop him, the others could still enter the League headquarters building and find what he needed.
Hearing this, Giovanni thought for a moment. Then he made a polite gesture with his hand, indicating for Kael to proceed as he wished, signaling that he would no longer stop him.
He had already delayed him for quite some time, and that was enough. If in a situation like this the League was still incapable of putting up even the slightest resistance, then if it had to be destroyed, so be it.
Moreover, even if he continued blocking Kael now, Kael's side, which had a clear numerical advantage, would still be able to obtain what they had come for.
Most importantly, Giovanni had already understood Mewtwo's capabilities. Now the only thing he wanted was to return and raise Mewtwo's strength to the extreme, and then unfold his grand plans.
After this battle, the overall strength of the Sacred Church had already been greatly reduced. Aside from Kael, more than eighty percent of its ordinary and high-level members had either died or been rendered unable to fight.
(End of chapter)