Pokemon: I Transmigrated Twice

"Everyone, come eat!"

 Daisy brought out the last dish and warmly called out to everyone.

"What the heck is Psychic Fatty!?"

After reading the news, Will sat down, yelling in frustration.

It was obvious that he was very unhappy with the nickname the League had given him.

As he spoke, Will shot a resentful look at Stephen.

He felt that this was all because Stephen hadn't given him a cool codename as well.

"Before we came to Pallet Town, we landed at Viridian Airport and happened to witness that fierce battle last week. The power of Legendary Pokémon is truly terrifying."

 Stephen pretended not to notice Will's resentful gaze and changed the topic.

He thought to himself, At least they didn't call you Caped Baldy or something.

"I've heard about Suicune, Entei, and Raikou before. They're Legendary Pokémon whose tales have been passed down in Johto for centuries. I never expected them to have a superior—Ho-Oh, was it? I wonder what kind of power it possesses."

 Professor Oak's eyes were filled with admiration.

The rarest Pokémon he had ever encountered was Celebi.

"Grandpa, isn't that beside the point? The main issue is that masked man!"

"The news said he could fight against Ho-Oh and the three Legendary Beasts without losing ground. Damn… Just how strong is he…?"

At this moment, Green was already showing hints of his future pride.

But it was merely confidence, not arrogance.

He was well aware of the vast difference between his current self—who hadn't even obtained his first Pokémon—and that masked man.

"An SSS-level wanted criminal… Since the League was established, this must be the first case, right?"

 Daisy joined the conversation at this point.

As she spoke, she couldn't help but glance worriedly at her younger brother, Gary, who was standing outside by the window as punishment, his back facing the living room.

"Yes, before this masked man, the two most wanted criminals with the highest bounty levels were the still-unidentified SS-level Team Rocket Boss and the Shadow Leader."

 Professor Oak continued:

"Below them are Team Rocket's genius scientist, Joker, and Shadow's chief scientist, Elena—both of whom are S-level criminals."

"And Daisy, don't even think about pleading for Gary. He has to stand there for the entire night."

His son and daughter-in-law had passed away early due to a car accident, so he had essentially raised these three grandchildren on his own.

At this point, he could predict what they were about to say just by looking at them.

Daisy stuck out her tongue and didn't dare to say anything more.

After discussing the masked man for a while, Professor Oak steered the conversation back to what he cared about most—the Pokédex.

Stephen also shared his vision for the future evolution of the Pokédex.

For example, adding a radar-like search function, or a scanning feature that could instantly reveal what moves a Pokémon had learned.

He even suggested merging Rotom with the Pokédex, essentially turning it into a living entity.

His ideas left Professor Oak and the others completely stunned.

Wait, we can do that!?

Of course, Stephen didn't plan on revealing all his ideas at once.

After all, the Pokédex was something to be sold.

He decided to take a page from an old master's playbook—releasing improvements little by little.

Sigh, in the end, I've become the kind of person I once hated the most.

...

"Then we'll take our leave."

After dinner, Stephen and his two companions bid farewell to Professor Oak and his family.

They had barely taken two steps when a figure blocked their way—it was Gary, who had been standing in the doorway as punishment.

"What do you want?"

Karen's expression darkened. She had no fondness for this arrogant little brat.

"S-Sorry…"

Although struggling with it, Gary still lowered his head and managed to say those words.

Inside the house, everyone's conversation had been perfectly audible to him outside.

He didn't understand everything, but as someone destined to take over his grandfather's role as a Pokémon researcher, the moment he heard that the Pokédex could monitor a Pokémon's status and moves at any time, he immediately realized just how revolutionary this invention was.

Gary, though arrogant and inexperienced in the real world, wasn't blind to its significance.

After all, news of Pokémon trainers being attacked by wild Pokémon during their adventures was reported every so often.

With this Pokédex, 99% of such incidents could be avoided.

"It's nothing. Just do your best."

Stephen patted Gary on the shoulder and walked past him.

Honestly, aside from his early habit of provoking Ash, Gary wasn't a bad rival at all.

He never trained his Pokémon through near-abusive methods like Paul, nor did he act overly arrogant despite lacking skill like Trip.

As the series progressed, especially in the Johto arc, Gary matured significantly and even helped Ash multiple times.

Unfortunately, to make way for other rivals, he switched to being a researcher after the Silver Conference.

As Stephen and his group walked further away, Professor Oak's voice called out from inside the house:

"Come in and eat!"

The old man had witnessed everything just now.

...

That night, Stephen and his companions stayed at an inn.

The next morning, they headed toward Professor Oak's research lab, located at the foot of the mountains behind Pallet Town.

They were preparing to begin the development of the Pokédex.

On the way, Will, who was scrolling through his phone, suddenly spoke up:

"Someone recorded our battle against the Masked Man."

Stephen leaned over to look, but before he could see the screen, a very familiar voice rang out—

["Waaah! Help! Help! Mom, Dad! It looks like Iono is going to die here! When you see this video, remember to burn lots of snacks for Iono on my death anniversary!"]

"Huh?"

Not only was Stephen taken aback, but even Karen found the voice oddly familiar.

Where had she heard it before?

The two of them leaned in for a closer look.

On the screen, a cute girl with rare dual-colored hair—half blue, half pink—was running straight toward the camera.

Behind her, there were continuous explosions—Boom! Boom! Boom!

In the background, the roads, houses, and trees were collapsing as if the world itself were ending.

"Wait… Isn't that the little girl we saved before?!"

Karen recognized her immediately.

Her unusual hair color had made a lasting impression.

Will also gave his evaluation of the girl.

"Yep, the little girl who risks her life to record videos."

["Waaah—!"]

Just as Will finished speaking, Iono let out another scream on the video.

The camera spun wildly as she was sent flying by a massive force.

Through the chaotic footage, one could vaguely see the entire scene behind her—split into two distinct halves.

On the left, red flames blazed.

On the right, white ice spread.

Fire and ice clashed violently as if dividing the entire world in two.

At that moment, viewers watching the video worldwide were left speechless.

In the next second, the camera steadied.

Iono, holding the phone, lifted it slightly—just in time to capture Joker's face.

["Huh?!"]

Viewers everywhere were stunned.

...

Far away, in Goldenrod City of the Johto region, Mary shot up from her chair.

"Joker-sama…!"

...

Meanwhile, in the Indigo Plateau at the Elite Four's office, Dragon Master Lance bit his lip in deep thought.

Back in the video, Joker pulled Iono behind him, exchanged a few words with his two companions, and then joined the battle—Ho-Oh and the Three Legendary Beasts vs. Delibird and Swinub.

The entire battle was captured in full by Iono's recording.

However, some parts left the audience confused.

 That was at the very end of the battle—why did the masked man suddenly stop fighting?

 He had the upper hand at that moment.

Regardless, this battle could be said to be the largest-scale war since the league was founded, and it ended with both sides agreeing to a ceasefire.

 At the very end of the video, it concluded with Joker's final words: ["Go home quickly."]

The entire video was less than ten minutes long, yet it fully showcased the latter half of the battle—one that could truly be described as earth-shattering and heaven-shaking—to viewers around the world.

Although some doubts remained, at the very least, people had a general understanding of how the battle unfolded.

Within ten minutes of being uploaded, the video had already garnered 500,000 views.

 The comment section was exploding with activity—

[Oh my god, I've been watching every regional league tournament for years, but I've never seen anything as insane as this.]

[As a Galar native, I agree. I used to think our new Galar champion, Leon's Charizard, was already crazy strong, but compared to this shiny Fearow? It's not even close!]

[Shiny Fearow?! That's Ho-Oh, dammit! I'm from Viridian City—I got caught in the battle and my leg was crushed under a collapsed building. Nurse Joy told me I might need an amputation, and I was devastated. But then Ho-Oh flew back and cast a light over me, and I was completely healed. If anyone dares call Ho-Oh a shiny Fearow again, I'll fight them to the death!]

[Wow, is this bird that kindhearted? Do you think it could cure my ED?]

[Aren't we ignoring the real horror—the masked man? The footage was blurry, so I couldn't see clearly, but didn't he have the upper hand against Ho-Oh?!]

[What exactly is this masked man trying to do? Is he going to cause more trouble?]

[What the hell was the League doing?! I'm from Viridian City, and by the time their reinforcements arrived, the fight was already over!]

[Not that it would've mattered. With the strength that the masked man showed in the video, who in the Indigo League could have stopped him? The aging Champion Agatha? Or the Flying-type Elite Four who gets completely countered by Ice-types?]

[My cousin called me yesterday—she said that while they were evacuating, my aunt was frozen into an ice sculpture by the masked man. If Ho-Oh hadn't intervened, she would've died right there.]

The comment section was flooded with heated discussions about the newly revealed legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh and the terrifying strength of the masked man.

 Many people were deeply unsettled by the masked man's overwhelming power.

 After all, if Ho-Oh hadn't returned midway through the battle, the fight in the city center yesterday would have resulted in hundreds of injuries, if not deaths.

Meanwhile, many users were also discussing Joker.

[Wait, wasn't it Joker who saved that little girl filming the video?!]

[That's not surprising. Three years ago, Joker saved over a thousand passengers in Goldenrod City.]

[Hold on, wasn't the League calling Joker a terrorist? Is he saving people now?]

[Doing one good deed doesn't erase countless bad ones.]

[What bad things has Joker even done? If he and his two subordinates hadn't stepped in to fight the masked man, who knows how many more people in Viridian City would have died?]

[Oh please, do you guys have no memory? Have you all forgotten that he attacked the Olivine Gym a year ago?]

Seeing that comment, Mary frowned, typing out a reply:

[I suspect that Olvine Gym's leader, Altair, isn't a good person.]

Almost immediately, Mary received a notification—her account had been muted for three days.

 Her small face puffed up in frustration.

"This hater is unbelievable!"

...

Meanwhile, a comment saying "Joker and the Mask Girl make such a hot couple, but Psychic Fatty ruined the aesthetic" pissed off Will so much that he transformed into a full-on keyboard warrior, arguing hundreds of replies deep.

On the other hand, Stephen and Karen weren't too concerned about the video itself.

 They watched it several times, making sure that none of the three of them had accidentally exposed their identities.

Just as they were approaching the research lab, Stephen noticed Will was still furiously typing, locked in an online battle.

"Are you seriously still going?"

Even Karen couldn't help but roast him.

"Just one more! I need this guy to post a picture of himself—I wanna see what kind of face he has to call me ugly!"

 Will refused to back down.

But just as he clicked "send," the page refreshed—

The video was gone.

 All that was left was a big exclamation mark and a single line of text:

[This video has been removed due to content violations.]

"What the hell?!"

 Will shouted, "I was just about to go all out!"

Stephen and Will exchanged glances.

 Something about this situation felt off.

...

...

Indigo League Headquarters.

Goodshow sat wearily in the chairman's office chair, his expression haggard.

Hearing the "knock knock" on the door, the slumped Goodshow weakly responded, "Come in."

"Chairman Goodshow."

An Officer Jenny stepped into the office, saluted, and reported: "That video has been deleted."

As the largest police family in the League, the Officer Jenny family was involved not only in military police, criminal police, and patrol police but also in cyber police.

Officer Jenny standing before him was from the cyber police division.

"Hmm, good work."

Goodshow nodded tiredly.

The cyber police Jenny hesitated, then said with some guilt: "Although we deleted the video within half an hour of its release, by then, the view count had already reached nearly a million. It might… not make much of a difference."

Goodshow smiled bitterly: "There was no other way to prevent the negative impact from spreading further."

After watching the video, Goodshow immediately felt a strong sense of foreboding.

These past few days, as the Viridian Incident continued to ferment, many Viridian citizens—no, people from all over the Kanto region—had begun to question the League's competence.

According to many online comments from users with IP addresses in Viridian City, the battle had already ended by the time Lance and the other Elite Four arrived.

Had Ho-Oh not intervened at the last moment, who knows how many people would have been affected—or even lost their lives.

To be honest, Goodshow felt wronged.

After all, the battle hadn't lasted that long.

The first half was Ho-Oh and the Three Legendary Beasts vs. Masked Man's Swinub and Delibird.

Then Joker joined in for the second half.

In total, the fight barely lasted ten to twenty minutes at most.

Had it gone on any longer, Viridian City—one of Kanto's major metropolises—might have been wiped off the map.

Given such a short timeframe, Lance and his team had already moved as quickly as they could.

But the public didn't care about reasoning.

All they saw was that by the time the battle was over, the League's reinforcements had only just arrived.

The people were already dissatisfied with this situation.

Fortunately, the Legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh had intervened in the end, saving all the casualties.

This helped calm the emotions of the citizens—until that video surfaced.

The internet exploded.

Netizens who watched the video furiously commented:

["Even Joker and his team arrived before the League did!"]

["What the hell are we paying all these taxes for?!"]

Seeing countless comments like these, the elderly Goodshow felt utterly speechless.

To be honest, he suspected that Joker and his group had something to do with this leak.

But there was no evidence.

And whether or not Joker was behind it, one fact remained indisputable:

Their trio's intervention prevented the situation from escalating further.

Not to mention, whatever method Joker had used, the video clearly showed that he had forced the Masked Man to back down.

When you put it that way, Joker had contributed far more than Lance's team.

Good grief.

After the Olivine Gym incident, many within the League had actively manipulated public opinion to smear Joker.

Yet now, this incident was completely reversing that narrative.

Watching the video's view count skyrocket like a Rayquaza soaring into the sky, Goodshow had no choice but to cut the Gordian knot and order the cyber police to delete it.

After dismissing Officer Jenny, he turned to his secretary and instructed:

"Summon Lance and the others… No, summon all Gym Leaders from Kanto and Johto. We need to discuss how to handle this situation."

As he waited, Goodshow opened the saved copy of the video on his device.

Watching Joker's trio battle Ho-Oh, the Three Legendary Beasts, and two Master-ranked Pokémon, Goodshow sighed and muttered to himself:

"Their progress is way too fast…"

Three years ago, when Joker and Lance first met, then again at Cianwood City, they had fought twice.

Each time, Lance had suffered setbacks.

Back then, Goodshow could still tell himself that it was because Lance was young and had fallen for Joker's tricks.

In terms of raw power, Lance had nothing to fear.

However, the Lostlorn Forest incident in Unova had rung alarm bells in Goodshow's mind.

Even though Joker had once again used some unknown tactic to outmaneuver Lance, when they fought head-on, according to Cynthia and Steven,

Joker might not have been able to defeat Lance yet, but he was no longer afraid of him.

And now, seeing Joker's latest performance in the video,

"A thousand miles in a day" didn't even begin to describe his growth.

Goodshow couldn't help but murmur:

"If they face off again… could Lance lose?"

PS: The Internet is scary.