"You..."
"How about making a deal?"
"A deal?"
...
...
Lusamine's private mansion.
An opulently decorated dining room.
An extra-long table, enough to accommodate more than twenty people dining together.
Lusamine sat at the head of the table, with Lillie and Gladio sitting to her left and right, and Natsuhiko sitting next to Lillie.
"Gladio, take Lillie out to play." Lusamine said indulgently, ruffling the heads of the two little ones.
"Okay, Mother."
Gladio pulled Lillie, who still wanted to hear stories from Natsuhiko, out of the dining room.
Now, it was just the two of them left.
Some things could now be openly discussed.
"Mr. Natsuka, should I call you Intelligence Merchant Natsuka, or Hunter Guild Natsuka?" Lusamine bluntly brought it up.
Natsuhiko shrugged, "It's all the same."
"Are you approaching our Ethereum Foundation for the guild's development?"
Natsuhiko played with the fork in his hand, smiling.
"That's partly the reason."
"Oh? And the other part?" Lusamine raised an eyebrow.
At this moment, she truly looked like the leader of a large organization.
Lusamine's capabilities were undoubtedly strong.
Whether in terms of strength or methods.
Otherwise.
How could she have developed the Ethereum Foundation to its current scale after her husband Dr. Moen disappeared?
She usually appeared kind-hearted, but only because she needed such a guise.
Of course.
She definitely cared a lot about her children, which was not fake.
But from the way Gladio and Lillie addressed her, one called her "Mother" and the other even called her "Madam Mother," it was clear that their relationship wasn't as good as it seemed.
"The other half is naturally for myself." Natsuhiko said without any hesitation.
"Go on."
"It's too early to talk about that now."
Natsuhiko put down the fork, looking seriously at Lusamine.
He continued, "But rest assured, Chairwoman, whatever I do, I can provide equivalent rewards."
"Rewards?"
Natsuhiko nodded solemnly, "Absolutely equivalent rewards."
"Such as?"
"Such as... Ultimate Beasts, or... 'Great God of Radiance'."
Lusamine slowly narrowed her eyes.
...
...
Ula ula Island.
The police station in Po Town.
Accompanied by a bunch of seemingly unfriendly Alola Meowth and Persians, Natsuhiko smilingly walked into this somewhat dilapidated police station.
There weren't many people inside.
Just a middle-aged man with a slumped head, playing with a Sword Jade, looking dejected and haggard, sitting on a chair at the front desk.
He was the current King of the Islands of Ula ula Island, Morden.
Noticing Natsuhiko entering, and those originally ill-tempered Meowth and Persians not daring to approach him, Morden slowly squinted his eyes.
He remembered Natsuhiko, having met him once at the entrance of the library at Acerola's place.
Morden sat up.
"Mr. Morden." Entering the police station, Natsuhiko pulled a chair in front of Morden.
Morden, who usually liked joking around with tourists who didn't recognize him, refrained from such antics in front of Natsuhiko.
"You are... Natsuka?" Morden remembered Acerola mentioning Natsuhiko's name to him.
"It's me." Natsuhiko nodded.
"What are you here for?"
The Sword Jade in Morden's hand bounced up and down, while those seemingly ill-tempered Meowth and Persians obediently followed the rise and fall of the Sword Jade in his hand.
"I want to talk to you about some matters concerning your old friend."
Old friend!
Morden's expression changed, the laziness gone from his demeanor.
Although Morden had many old friends, he knew that Natsuhiko's so-called "old friend" referred to only one person.
The Rocket Team Leader, Giovanni!
"Don't get excited, Mr. Morden, first take a look at this." As he spoke, Natsuhiko placed a piece of stationery on the table and pushed it toward Morden.
At first, Morden wasn't inclined to pay it any mind, but he froze when he saw the symbol at the end of the stationery.
He glanced at Natsuhiko, then opened the stationery.
Quickly scanned through it.
His expression held surprise and some unexpectedness as he stared at Natsuhiko and asked, "Are you sure?"
Natsuhiko grinned, taking out a Radiant Stone previously gifted by Kapu-Muu.
"I'm sure."
...
...
The prow of the ship cutting through the waves.
This was a Hunter Guild ship.
Natsuhiko and his companions had left the Alola Region.
With confirmation from the Ethereum Foundation, there were only three remaining competitors for the seats in the Alola Region, including Natsuhiko.
After confirming that the seats were secure, Natsuhiko had no intention of wasting time to track down these two people.
He had his considerations.
Some matters required a bait of sufficient weight for the big fish to bite.
"I've pretty much set up the stage for you. When will you perform?"
Watching the rising sprays of seawater and the Wingull flying alongside the ship, Natsuhiko muttered to himself.
Aside from the things he prepared both openly and discreetly.
This trip to Alola had been smoother than he had anticipated.
Whether in the competition for the Hunter Guild seats, interactions with various forces in the Alola Region, or in capturing and capturing target Pokémon.
This journey.
The Pokémon Natsuhiko captured.
Included his core Pokémon as a Hunter, Oranguru, who had also become Alakazam's current teacher, greatly enhancing Alakazam's understanding of the move "Illusion Space."